The True Militant
by JohnStang
Summary: Jack, one day, found himself in a very different place yet it was very familiar. He was no longer at his computer but inside the game he was just playing. How did he get there and why? And now he is there what will he do? Read the story for the answers.
1. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

I had the idea for this story for a while now and been debating on writing it. For this story, I will be drawing on my many years of playing Mabinogi as well as several animes I have seen. Once you read start reading the story you will understand. I will move from the stance I normally write my stories, I usually write in the third person point of view but for this story, it will first person. I hope I don't switch back and forth. If I do be patient but let me know about it so I can do better. In addition, since I paid money for my own pets in the game I will be using their actual names in this story. I doubt many would know them since I am not shall we say a well-known character.

* * *

I could feel the heat from the sun-rays on my skin as I was waking up. The next thing was I heard the cries of the sheep around me. 'Wait … What? I know I fell asleep at my computer screen again while playing Mabinogi so how is it I am waking up outside?' I asked myself while shaking the cobwebs out of my head.

It was then I heard the sound that quite literally scared me to death, the sound of a wolf growling. I looked over and saw a gray wolf poised to attack. From the looks, it was in either defensive stance or ready to 'Smash' me. Luckily there was a nearby dog that attacked it. While it distracted it I got up and ran to a nearby bridge.

It was then I took a good look around. It was then my true nightmare began. I heard of this happening only in other games or anime but never in real life. I was standing on a bridge in Tir Chonaill. I was actually in the game I loved so much. Now only that but I had all my five senses here so it was real. No dream I had was ever this real.

I had a million questions but the first thing I did was take stock in 'myself'. If I was right then I looked completely different from my real self. I went down stream to where it was shallow and looked in. Normally there would be no reflection but like in the real world the water acted like a mirror and shown what I looked like. What it showed astounded me.

I had the body of one of my avatars I thought I accidentally deleted a while back. At the time I had too many avatars and did not know what to do with them all so I started to delete them. This avatar was my original or main character. It was also my strongest. A bunch of my characters had similar names so when I got deleting I went overboard and too far. Afterwards I signed off and did not come back for a week and by that time it was too late as my main was gone.

I wept for days afterwards and almost did not go back to the game however, I loved it enough to create a new character. It was never the same after that. I felt no passion for the game anymore.

'Well if I am going to be stuck here I am glad to at least have this one little respite,' I thought.

As I looked into the water, I noticed the overhead display above me showing my name, skill, and the name of the guild I belonged to. I jumped for joy seeing this for the guild was the guild I loved. I so wished I could call my guild leader and talk to him but had no idea how to do that yet.

My next question was if this was only happening to me or if it was happening to other 'militants'. I went into towns and decided not to near the NPCs yet. I had no idea how to talk yet and mostly I wanted to observe the other players. Luckily, there was quite a few online today. I sat down, observed them for a while, and discovered others had no trouble doing the normal things players normally do.

In fact, I discovered it was just when some of them tried to talk to me. I could read what they were saying but I could not say anything back. It was frustrating. In the end many assumed I must either be 'stuck up' or having difficulties. I even got a message from my guild leader who rarely uses his main acct anymore but had no idea how to message him back.

Once the last of the players logged off, I sat down close to where Duncan stood thinking of my many problems.

"You look like you are worried about something, young one."

"Yeah you can say that …" Just then I leapt from my sitting position realizing I not only can talk hear someone talking but also know who spoke to me. The voice's owner was no other than Duncan. "Wait you can talk?"

"Of course I can talk why do you say such stupid things?"

How do I explain to an NPC the concept of a game? How do I explain why it is so incredible that they can actually verbally talk to me? Then it hit me how I can explain it to him. "You may not realize it but I am not like a regular militant. You realize they disappear for a while and reappear later. Well for some reason I cannot do that. I am not sure how to use my many skills. I also cannot speak to the other militants. So imagine my surprise when I am suddenly able to talk to you."

I can see Duncan slowly process this information. "I see your point. I can't fathom how you militant accomplish what you accomplish. However, I do have a suggestion. Go speak to Tarlach."

I wanted to hit myself up the head with a bat when Duncan made that suggestion. Of course I should speak with Tarlach. If anyone can understand what is going on he would being the most powerful druid in Erinn.

I quickly thanked Duncan for the talk and headed north towards where Tarlach stood. Scanning the sky I noticed it was close to dusk. This brings up the next interesting thing I noticed. One hour in game time really felt like one hour in real time. For regular players one-day game time passes in twenty minutes in real time. That was not the way it feels like for me now. One hour is actually one hour to me now. My head began to hurt realizing all this.

When I got to the portal to the area where the snowmen was and I froze for a couple reasons. One, how is the portal going to affect me now and how is it going to feel. Two, there are powerful coyotes in that area and a few might be the ancient kind. I am not sure how to fight yet so how will I defend myself.

Well the first one I will not know until I try it and as for the second one I realized I needed to call one of my horses so I call ride it past the coyotes. Now how do I call them without the menu? I remembered some of my fellow militants verbally call their animals. I just need to remember how they did that and I needed to remember the name of one of my horses.

The horse was easy, as I always loved riding my Thoroughbred 'StarDestiny'. As for how that took longer way longer. It was close to midnight when I remembered. "Summon StarDestiny"

As expected my beloved horse appeared. Off chance, I tried another command I remembered, "Bag". Suddenly a screen popped up in front of me out of nowhere and it seemed to display the contents of StarDestiny's inventory. I said 'Bag' again to close the screen. Miraculously it did.

Now I had my horse out my next task was tough. To be honest I never really rode a horse in the real world. Even though I lived in the South, I am a city boy. I have been on a horse once but it was not with an experienced rider and horse did not wish to do anything but stand there. In the end I got off and never been on one since.

Mounting him was not hard, the one I mounted before was hard for there was no saddle. We were just young boys goofing around on his Mom's 5-acre lot. She only had one horse, which she just bought. Star-Destiny was made for game players to ride. He had a saddle so mounting him was easy.

After mounting him I had another question. How do I make him move? Normally players can preset the coordinates on the map or point and click the terrain on the screen with the mouse. However those options was not available to me. Also sitting on this saddle was beginning to hurt my rear. Well nothing I can do about the rear, however I seen some western movies were the main character was given riding lessons. I remembered somehow those sequences. I tried them and nothing.

Disgusted I hopped off 'Stardestiny' and said "Return" so cancel the summons. It worked as he disappeared. Obviously I will not be able to ride any of my pets until I learn how. The first step is to talk to Tarlach but how do I reach him past all the coyotes. If I could fight them I would but I still don't know how yet.

Then I looked up on a hill towards the west and almost face vaulted. There sat a Moongate. I then remembered a Moongate right next to Tarlach too. I ran to the Moongate only to remember I still did not know how to use it. I should not have worried so much for as soon as stepped on the platform a map popped up with the moongates I 'have' highlighted. I noted I still did not have them all but that was later. I did see I had the one for Tarlach.

I wondered if what I saw in the animes for this type of situation would work. I moved my finger to touch the gate for Tarlach on the map. Instantly I the map disappeared and the terrain shifted before my eyes. I suddenly found myself in a snowy area and Tarlach was right there only he was a bear.

He must have just shifted as the sun barely poked up in the horizon. Darn now I have to wait twelve hours to speak to him. As I have already said I do feel the full effects of time here, twelve hours feels like twelve hours. Man I was in for a very long day. On top of that I was freezing. I decided to wait for sundown back in Tir by using the Moongate.

* * *

A/N

I bet some of you is wondering where the blazes did you come up with and why I have not? I am also willing to wager a great portion of you already can answer those questions. Well to put it bluntly there have been two very popular animes on this subject recently and I know of one other anime series a long time ago that went along this line as well. I bet there a host of manga that has this theme too that I am not aware of. If you comment please do not list any of those. I do not wish to list all sort of disclaimers for each of them as there are too many to count. I will not mention any of their names inside this fic myself as you might have noticed. If you must please PM me those names.

I wish to know that you think of this chapter though so please comment/review.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

Well I bet many of you are wondering what craziness is in stored for our hero in this chapter. Oh and I see I have not named the main character in the last chapter. That is on purpose. I am want to see if anyone can recognize just who it is. I know some already know but I wonder if anyone else can. Oh and since I do not have permission from anyone other player I know to use their character's name in this story I will be making them up as well as the guild name. I have to come up with something cool sounding and simple though. Sheesh…

* * *

When I got to the Tir town square, what I saw halted me. I saw 'Danster', the leader of the guild I was in, Hellcats. At one time the Hellcats guild was the leading guild of Mabinogi NA. It is also one of the oldest guilds. It started almost since the very beginning. Danster was always the leader and as such he is well known.

I on the other hand tend to keep out of the public sight. I like to take care of the stuff behind the scenes. I tend to make players like Danster look good even if they don't realize it or not. Danster though did not need my help looking good. He works very hard on his own and is friendly to everyone.

One other thing that made him popular is that he cares about everyone and goes out of his way if he thinks someone is in trouble. This is why he is here today. I am sure of it. I always answer him when he directly tries to contact him. I knew he would come looking for me since I could not answer him earlier. I just figured it would be sometime later before he found me. I am aware how differently time passes for me than to him now.

Danster noticed me and came over. I was both dreading this and hoping for this to happen. On one hand I still can't communicate with the other militants (players) yet. On the other hand Dan is very smart, I am betting he is just as smart as I am so maybe I can somehow get thru to him my plight. As he came over I read the caption box above him, "Geez, I been searching for you everywhere. I was surprised to see your old toon on the guild membership roster especially since you told me you deleted it by mistake. I know I did not authorize it back in yet so something is up. I wanted to know if you knew something."

I again tried everything in my power to communicate with him but to no avail. I felt anguish and suddenly to my surprise I was doing the gesture for anguish. My gesture also surprised Daniel who knew me not to do many gestures.

Suddenly Dan's prized horse pops up and he mounts it, "Well I can see you are not going to answer me soon. Call me when you figure it out."

No! He can't leave here like this. I needed his help to figure some of this stuff out. I only reacted at this point. I grabbed one of the daggers on my hips and threw it literally at his head. I did it without thinking and it took me by surprise for knife throwing was not programmed into Mabinogi as I know of.

Danster was surprised to but for a different reason. He did not see the knife toss. He saw the dagger embed itself into the tree in front of him. As I mentioned, Dan has been in the game as long as I have been which is almost from the very beginning. He knows a lot more of the game than I do since I tend to create new characters just to experience the first three storylines. He only has three characters, his human, elf, and giant. He got the elf and giant when the Iria update went into effect. Technically, he made his elf the leader of the guild so others will not know when he is online. Over the years, he got sick and tired of the many interruptions when someone PM him. At times he got so many his screen got filled up with nothing but PM's.

I know how he feels. When I started playing, I was popular as well. I would be in a dungeon run with a close friend when I get about 5 PM's all at once. I would have to stop and answer them just to be nice. My comrade with me in the dungeon would chuckle irritably knowing why I stopped and just wait for me to work thru the PM's. It got worse when I started a guild of my own before joining Hellcats. I was not a good leader but a better friend. The guild did not last long.

Anyways like I said Dan is very smart and knows the game inside and out so he know my throwing the dagger and is embedding itself into the sacred tree near Duncan is impossible. He got off his mount and cancelled the summons. Then he looked from me to the dagger in the tree and back again, before speaking, "OK that got my attention. I take it it's not that you will not answer me it's that you can't figure out how to answer me. I saw you do a gesture before. If you can do the gesture then wave if I am correct."

I thought about the gesture he mentioned, the one for anguish. I did do that but had no idea how. Then it hit me, it was my emotion that triggered it. I then tried to wave using the emotion I feel whenever I wave in the real world. It worked, I waved.

"Ok, for whatever reason your typing interface with the game is disconnected. Let's use the gestures for now. Can you bow?"

Again I had to think about it and suddenly I bowed after which I waved to him. "Good now let's test this in sequence to make sure you can do these whenever you wish without thinking."

We must have spent about an hour on the exercise before I got down pat. "Excellent! Now use the gesture for wave as yes and bow for no. Are you physically stuck in this game like in those animes we discussed earlier?"

'My god. He knows. He knows. He knows what happened to me,' I thought to myself before I waved.

"I really need to have your side of things before I can figure out a way to maybe help you." I saw his avatar went still which was evident that he was thinking in the real world. Suddenly his caption bubble above read, "I am going to try the Skype interface. It might work as your old avatar you deleted suddenly reappeared on the membership roster alerting me. Maybe your old Skype account you deleted is suddenly back up well. I know you did not have a microphone but maybe you won't need one."

I had not thought about that. I hope it works. I told you Dan was smart. A minute later, I heard a voice, "Hello? Jack? Do you hear me?"

Elated, I waved like maniac, which he chuckled at. "Ok I was correct about your old Skype account being here. You told me you deleted it too. Now try to speak aloud to see if I can hear you."

I used the words that first came to mind, "Testing one two three."

Dan laughed, "I hear you loud and clear. Now tell me what is going on."

For the few hours I told him about my plight of waking up here and finding I was now living inside the Mabinogi game and for all purposes this world is not the Mabinogi he knows. Well it may be for him but for me it is vastly different. I told him how time works for me here and I told him how I can't use any of my skills. I then told him I can call my horse but riding him was something else entirely.

When I was done, Dan was quiet. I knew what I had was hard to swallow but how else do you explain what all I have said. Then, the dagger that was in the tree disappeared and reappeared back on my hip.

"It makes sense now. But you said that time passes differently for you here than it does for me?"

"Yes and your point being Dan?"

"Well we been together for about 3 hours now and I know I have seen the sun rise and set about nine times already meaning nine game days has passed for us."

Come to think of it I saw that but did not pay close attention to it since I was talking to Danster.

"But I clearly know how the game hour felt to me!" I exclaimed.

Dan thought carefully for a second, "Were you with another player at the time?"

I thought for a second myself. Up until now, I was not actively engaged with another player. I observed them yes but not engaged in conversation with them or actively playing with them. It dawned on me that was the difference and that Dan knows it. When I am alone, game time is different for me than when I am participating in game play with another player. For all purposes, I became a highly advanced NPC. That thought scared me.

Dan must have known what I was thinking for his next statement jolted me into my new reality. "You are not an NPC. However, you are no longer a Player either. You seem more than that. I do know whatever force made you like this wanted us to be able communicate with each other. How else do you explain you being on the guild roster suddenly as well you old Skype account reactivated?"

"Well unfortunately I have to log out for a while. You mentioned you have to go see Tarlach as he might have the answers you seek. It's almost 6pm game time and time for you should slow after I leave. You should have enough time to get to moongate and use it to get to him by 6. Good Luck and I look forward to hearing what Tarlach has told you."

Danster logged off after that.

* * *

A/N

Well this has been an interesting chapter as this story has been interesting for me write so far. I don't rightly know which direction I will take with this (bad guy that is) but it will be fun finding out.

Do anyone bells been ringing in their heads as to whom I may be or about anything else for that matter?

Please comment/review.

Edit: Shortly after getting my internet back up after some months of it being down I found out rather sadly that Mabinogi had advanced so far that it left my poor computer in the dust. I am no longer able to log into the game as my comrades are still able to. Oh well the dream was great while it lasted. Luckily one of my other games still allows me to play but it is not the same as Mabinogi. Nothing will ever be : ( .


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

I still do not have a clear picture of how to handle the conversation Jack has with Tarlach. I have a couple of ideas but not the general direction of where it will lead. Such is my basic writing style. Let's see where it leads together.

* * *

I arrive at Tarlach just before he transforms from a bear into a human. I soon realize what is about to happen a little too late, "ARYEIII!"

I drop to the ground in pain. The light burned my eyes. When Tarlach transform there is always a blinding light. From the other side of the screen the light does not affect us. I often wondered why Tarlach was all the up here where the only people he sees are the 'Militants'. Now I know why. The light of his transformation will blind a normal person in this world.

As I lay on the ground, I here Tarlach yelling, "Follow my voice and come over to me. I can heal your eyes if you hurry." Easy for him to say, I am totally disorientated. It was then I remembered seeing eye dogs from my world so I called out, "Summon Starbreaker."

Instantly, my prized sled dog popped in. "Come here, Starbreaker. Come here boy." Starbreaker, I could tell, was a little confused. Normally I just grab his reign, his sled materialized under my feet, and off we go. Other time I call him just for his inventory. This time he knew something was different.

It took some doing but he came to me and nudged me. I grabbed hold of his reigns and his sled materialized under me so he can pull me. Tarlach must have caught on to what I was doing for the next thing I heard was him calling, "Starbreaker, come here boy, Come on."

I have to give the dog credit for ha must have realized what was going on. He took me over to Tarlach with no trouble at all. Tarlach helped me off the sled and onto my back.

The next thing I know a soothing burning sensation was over my eyes. It felt like burning but instead of hurting me, it was soothing me. When the burning sensation was over my vision came back into focus. I looked up at Tarlach as if he was a god. "In all the time I been here I never seen you do any kind of magic other than helping us turn our weapons into spiritual weapons."

Tarlach chuckled, "Well that is all the game servers will let me do and besides the transformation spell takes a lot of my magical power. I don't complain as it is the only thing keeping me alive."

"You just said game servers. You know the truth about us militants?" I had to ask.

Tarlach helped me up, "I've always known. I am about the only human NPC that does know. Nao know as well as the goddess. But you know Nao is no longer the human I knew as Mari. I also know why you are here. I have been expecting you although I thought you would be here sooner."

"I would have been if I could have waited the hours for you turn back into a Human the first time I was here. You don't remember the first time I was here since I realized a long time ago you remember very little of the time you spend as a bear. Anyways can you please tell me what is happening to me."

Tarlach thought for a second, "I think you already know what is happening so I think your real question is how did this happen. Well as I can figure it out a very strange event happen in your world as you were playing Mabinogi the night before all this happened. Your house was hit by three separate lightning bolts simultaneously. One hit your power lines and it went straight thru to your computer even jumping you surge protectors doing it. The two others well hit you directly. Somehow, your consciousness went into your computer and somehow you materialized here. The rest you know."

I digested what he had said and felt sad. With tears in my eyes, I croaked, "Then that means I am …" I could not bring myself to finish the rest.

Tarlach finished it for me in a low voice, almost a whisper, "Dead … yes I am afraid your physical body in that world is no more. However, you are alive and well here."

I felt disgusted with that statement. Sure, I am alive here but so what. All I cared about was over there. Moreover, what happens to me now? What happens when the game developers decide to end the dream of Mabinogi? Will I cease to exist?

Tarlach must have seen my questions written on my face. "Don't worry. When the game ends in the other world this world will continue and you still be here. For all purposes, you are the first and only true Militant of this world. You have yet to understand how special you really are. The Goddess, Nao, and I have been working very hard to make this as easy as we can make it. One of the first things we did was give you the body of character we know you loved but thought you could not have anymore. All that character stats are just as you left it before you accidentally deleted him. We know you had three shall we say Mabinogi interfaces. You call them accounts I believe. We gave you pets from all three of those accounts since you purchased them."

I had to interrupt, "I gave away one of those accounts."

"We know but we also know it went inactive and no longer is in service. It was never reactivated after you gave it away. The only thing is the dragon was transferred from that account to another."

I thought for a second. "That is fine. There are very personal and strong reason why I gave that account away. I just don't wish to cause more harm is all. Can the pets I gain from that account be returned to it?"

Tarlach smiled, "If you so wish."

"Then please do so." I then sat down and still thinking about my death in the other world.

"You can't do anything about that Jack," said a somber Tarlach, "There is no way you can go back. It's best you start living here in this world."

"It's not that simple, Tarlach. Imagine your being over there and me telling you your body here is dead. How would you feel?"

Tarlach got angry, "You forget I almost died myself and now I must spend the rest of my life here in the wasteland doomed to transform into a bear during the day while eating mana herbs so I can transform back into a human at night. My best friends, well one turned into Nao and the other into a traitorous Black Knight. Yeah I know something about losing all you care about."

I could feel the bitterness in his voice. "I'm sorry." I then started to walk to the moongate.

"Where are you going? There is more we need to discuss," stated Tarlach.

"I need to be by myself for a while to think," I answered back. Then I paused. "Is there a way I can get to my homestead?"

Tarlach chuckled, "Say 'Control Menu' and a lot of your questions will be answered."

"Control Menu!" Up in front of me was what looked like the regular interface every player uses while playing Mabinogi on the screen. I used the same method as I used with the moongate to interface with it. I thanked Tarlach then left via the moongate.

When I got back to Tir, I went to a private spot near the school I liked to go to. The spot was along the outer fence line that surrounded Tir, a gate was right there. Beyond the gate was a trail that went up the hill. I knew that trail well. That was the trail players used to travel down when they first came to Erinn. They will meet a person named Tin who gave them meager beginning supplies and told them to meet a person named Duncan down in the valley. The system changed since then but it was nice remembering the good old days.

I called up the Control Menu and punched in for me to go to my homestead. Travelling to my homestead was no different than using the moongate, both were painless and rather instant. I was surprised to find homestead to be just as I left it before I accidentally deleted this avatar.

I sat down and investigating the Control Menu. I found it illuminating. I was able to pull up my inventory screen and found it contained three Nao stones which surprised me for I recall having no Nao stones on this toon. Another thing that surprised me is that I had three bombs as well. 'What the hell is going on here?' I asked myself.

I then checked my character's status screen. It stated I was at level 728. I was flabbergasted. I soon realized I was wrong about this toon being my highest level toon. My newest female toon named Reginastang was much higher level. Well I am glad to have this one over her though. If I were stuck here, I would rather be stuck in a toon closer to my old real self.

One thing I note is that this toon used to have black Spaika armor with blue pants and white sleeves. It also had black Spaika boots and blue snake gloves. Now all I had on was blue newbie clothes. Now that I am able to pull up the Control Menu, I went into the wardrobe. After searching several minutes, I saw no armor at all but I did find my Black Spaika boots which I put on. I also found my black vicking helm that Danster made for me a couple years back. He also made my Spaika boots. I am very pleased to see them. I noted I had enough money to pay for an Adventurers Outfit from the store. Luckily, Malcolm had it in black with brown pants. In the wardrobe, I also had a pair of black guardian gloves. After that, I thought I look decent enough.

I then checked my character status screen again and found I was eligible for rebirth. I wondered if I should do it or not, if it would hurt or not. After debating for several minutes, I realized I would be meeting up with Nao. Tarlach mentioned she was one of the ones that helped with his transfer into this world. Since I had more questions I decided I needed to talk to her so I hit the button to rebirth.

* * *

A/N

I wonder if any of your can tell when I wrote these chapters. Well if you can guess at the exact same time then you win the prize yet to be determined. My cable it out and while I am waiting for it to come back up I am bored to I decided to start writing this story. Oh, I will busy afterwards checking my spelling against Mabinogi wiki. I think I will delay in posting a chapter until a week later just to add suspense.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

In this chapter, We pretty much know he will be talking to Nao. I have other ideas for this chapter but the main scope is the talk with Nao. Unlike the last chapter I have clear ideas what I want for this chapter but not the outline. I will play that by ear.

* * *

Instant the scene again, it was as if it was curtains on one scene only to have the curtain rise on another. Now he was on a pure white circular pedestal. All around the pedestal was pure white nothingness. The only thing he saw was an occasional white dove.

Suddenly a well-endowed woman with pure white hair done in a twin tail fashion appeared in the middle of the pedestal. The woman wore a black dress and had the prettiest blue eyes. This woman is widely known to the militants. She is Nao.

My heart pounded with excitement. I have somewhat a crush on this woman even though technically, she is a NPC and a servant to the Goddess. To the militants, however, she is more than just a plain servant to the goddess. She is the one that resurrects us when we fall in battle. When she does so, the goddess blesses all of the equipment we have on us. She also helps us with the rebirth ritual. Nao also helps bring over new militant thru the soul stream and helps orientate them to their new life in Erinn. In short, Nao is like an angel and a saint rolled up into one to the Militants. It is no wonder that some of the male militants have a secret crush on Nao and some of the female militants want to be just like her.

I cautiously walk up to Nao but like always she is waiting for me to interact with her. "Umm, Nao, I know we are supposed to discuss rebirth and such but that is not what I wanted to talk to discuss with you and quite frankly I had no other way to contact you."

She looked confused for a second then replied, "I see. So you are the militant the Goddess and I were discussing earlier. We also talked with my old childhood friend Tarlach about it since he had many interactions with militants."

Crestfallen, I dropped to my hands and knees. "Then what Tarlach said is true. My body is in the real world or rather the world I came from is dead and all that's left of me is what is here in this world."

I felt Nao's hand on my shoulder as I cried, "I am sorry, but what you have said is true. You are the first militant I have felt cross over their very essence so strongly. I did not materialize you here for you already had many avatars in Erinn and I knew that. With you, I had to consult the Goddess directly. We then brought Tarlach up to further the discussion. We knew your entire gaming history even to the point of knowing how sad you felt about deleting this avatar, the one you fondly call as your main. It was Tarlach's suggestion to revive this body for you so you can use it. It was hard but we were able to get it for you."

I quickly absorbed what she had said, "Then you knew all along I won't be able to log off ever again."

I looked up and for the first time realized the state I was in, Nao had tears in her eyes. "No you can never log off ever again. We knew you were truly stuck here and this will cease being a game to you. If this was a game to you, we won't be having this conversation. You will be stuck with the preprogrammed responses like all the other militants. Truth be telling I for one am glad to be able to talk freely with a Militant normally for once, even if it's the one that forces me to bear the pain of losing my father and over again."

That statement struck a painful cord deep within me. Nao is talking about the first storyline of Mabinogi, G1. At the end of the storyline her father sacrifices himself for the better good thus releasing the Goddess from her captures. Nao materializes and clutches her dead father in her arms as she cries. I found that storyline so prolific I had to replay it many times and found several ways to do so. I had no idea it affected Nao this much. If I had known I would never have replayed it so many times. "I am sorry, Nao. I had no idea…"

"Of course you did not know. You were just playing a game at the time. I don't blame you for that but try to be more sensitive now that you do know." My smile told her I would.

I choked as Nao continued, "Now that is settled I have a proposition for you. We did not give you a choice in which character you woke in. We only presumed you would be rejoiced in having this character back. However, we could not discount the number of female characters you had in the past as well. The Goddess said once you reached out to me she will let you have a choice of any character you wish to be in as long as it's a character you created in the past. Be forewarned that once you made your choice you will not be able to make this choice ever again. You will be stuck with the body you chose."

I thought long and hard. I did have fun with the Jenny persona I had a long time ago. However, it got sticky when the guys would hit on me. I did not have the heart to tell them I was a guy but how do I reject them without hurting them. Well if I chose a female character, I would be a female all the way. Now that thought scared the pants off me. I quickly rejected that. If I were to be stuck in a body, I rather be stuck in my true gender. That left my male characters and of them all, I only really cared for one. My choice was clear.

"I chose to stay in this character."

"Are you sure? This choice once made will be final?" asked Nao?

Again, I stood firm, "I am sure. This is my final choice. I only wish to thank everyone for making this choice available to me."

The atmosphere shifted again. When it was done shifting, I was in a familiar location. I say familiar but It was never officially a part of Mabinogi. It was conception drawings from Devcat of what the Goddess' inner chambers looked like. It was the sitting room I seen many times when the Goddess was having fun teasing Nao. I looked over at Nao and she seen the expression on my face that noted recognition. Her face burned red with embarrassment.

When the Goddess stepped thru the door, I immediately dropped to my knees and knelt before her. I had no other reference to draw from of what to do when suddenly faced with a real live goddess. I heard Nao giggle, "Get up Jack, although it's greatly appreciated, the goddess is not one for such formalities."

After I got up, I looked over to the goddess for the first time who decided to speak, "Before we begin explaining the many things we have done for you there is one last thing you need to decide. This is something only I can help you with and not Nao. It concerns your Knight transformation. As you are aware of, when one first gets their transformation, they are always Paladins of white knights. Later they have the permanent option to become Dark Knights. This choice concerns your DK status. While you made the permanent choice to stay with that body you are aware it is the only toon you have made that ever went DK and that is something you hated. You stopped playing with this character soon afterward. I think that is what led to you subconsciously deleting that character in the first place, which is another mistake you regretted. These mistakes I believe led you to be disenchanted with Mabinogi."

"The choice I am offering you is simple, this one time only I will make you a paladin once more if you so choose."

I remember my disappointment clearly. However, it stemmed from a source the goddess was not aware of. I was always a dog lover. When pets were first introduced to Mabinogi I quickly bought two dogs one being a Siberian husky who was only available for a short time. I bought these pets for I learned the next storyline was going to be solo. Later I bought a couple of horses and a minibear.

When I finally got my Trans, I was floored when I noticed my Siberian trans'ed with me. It was as if we were connected in some way. I felt that connection deeply thru the screen.

However, I knew nothing about the true nature of that Trans when I decided to become a dark knight a year later. I thought it be cool being a DK. I even looked forward to how my Siberian would look all DK'd out. I was crushed when I saw he did not transform at all. I discovered the rules governing his transformation. He only transformed into a Paladin form. When I decided to go DK, I broke that connection we had. I soon hated my DK status.

I had other characters that were Paladins and the Siberian did trans with them. However, it felt like he was cheating on me during those times. Soon I did not call on my Siberian anymore. I could not bring my heart to do so.

Now the goddess is offering me a chance to hopefully undo the damage I caused. I wonder if in doing so would amend the connection between us. "Thanks goddess. If it were to mend the connection with my Siberian husky, I would do it in a heartbeat. However, I don't think that is an issue easily solved."

"Well if you don't choose to be a Paladin again that connection can never be repaired. The first step is to become a Paladin again. Don't you agree?" asked the goddess.

Of course I was going to choose to be a Paladin again. After all it was true what the Goddess said, I really hated my DK status. "I choose to be a Paladin."

Suddenly I was gripped with extreme pain like my guts was being ripped out. I knew I could feel pain in this world now but not on this level. I was then encased in a prison of light but not enough to blind me like the light of Tarlach's transformation. Then just as quickly, all the pain and light shows were over.

"There you are Paladin again. Take heed the pain Jack, if it were not that you be able to withstand such pain this opportunity would not have been possible. Other characters would simply have been deleted upon trying what we have just tried."

"Meaning this switch would not work for the other militants," I added.

"Precisely so I will not advertise the fact you have managed to switch back into a Paladin. Since you admit you are somewhat a lone wolf most will not notice. The few that will notice I think we can trust."

"About the only one I know that will notice is Danster. He by the way knows what has happened to me."

"Well I feel strongly that we can trust Danster. That is one of the major reasons we made talking to him possible for you. In time, however you will learn how to talk to all the other militants. Tarlach, Nao, and I felt we had to limit who you can talk to initially. However, if you had accidentally discovered how to talk to them earlier you would have been able to."

* * *

A/N

I intended to have the talk with Goddess be in all one chapter but I hate extremely long chapter so I opted to split it when the word count reach 2,000. I think the next chapter will be interesting though.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

In this chapter you will see the full scope of my knowledge of Mabinogi history. I have played the game almost since the beginning of its introduction after beta. I know how it was and I know how it changed over the years. I still love the dream but some things changed for the worse as you will see.

* * *

"To change the subject, you mentioned that there are other things you done for me. Could you please expand on those?" I ask while taking a seat on a nearby couch.

Nao looked at the Goddess who nodded her head. "Well for starters you saw your inventory earlier. Did you notice the Nao stones and the Bombs?"

Indeed I did so I nodded affirmatively.

"Well from now on you will or shall I say can have a maximum of three Nao stones in your inventory at one time period. As you might have guessed, the store is unavailable to you since you are not being able to procure any Karma Koin cards to purchase any NX. To compensate for this we have given you free premium membership. As you realize the service has changed over the years to it being barely a joke. We have given the best it has ever been. With it, you can earn up to a maximum of three Nao stones at a time. If you use one, you will earn it back by staying online for one game day. Since you cannot log off and constantly online, that means you have free access to Nao stones all the time without paying for it. The bombs in your inventory work the exact same way."

I was flabbergasted when they explained this to me. It was the late great premium service they had when Mabinogi first started. I was upset when they changed the service around so the Nao was not part of the service or the bombs for that matter. What good was the service without the best part of the service ripped out? Now the Militants had to pay extra if they wanted Nao to resurrect them and for the bombs. Now I was told I had that part of the service back. Again, I realized it was only for me and not for the other militants.

However, something about their wording was bugging me. Those words were it was free to me. I know nothing is free. There was a catch coming. Instead of waiting, I had to asked, "What do I have to do in exchange for this service. Surely you don't expect me to really believe that all this is for free?"

Nao sighed, "When you crossed over in the Soul Stream it caused a bug to surface in the programming that the programmers will never truly be aware of. The bug happened because of how you got here and also by your actually being here. They only way to purge the bug is to get rid of the source meaning…"

"Meaning my very existence would be eradicated," I finished. Nao nodded I guessed right. That was a very scary thought. I would no longer exist. Already I am feeling the emotional pain of my existence in rl is gone, now my existence in the fantasy life would be gone as well. I teared up thinking about the worse.

After I composed myself I stated, "I suppose it's my responsibility to eradicate these bugs. Let me guess, they take the form of mutated fomors?"

The goddess voice seemed saddened as she said, "Not just fomors, the bugs could be a mutated NPC of a majestic and sacred animal. In most cases, once the system resets itself during maintenance the eradicated NPC will be reinstated. However there will be rare instances where the eradicated infected entity will not be reinstated."

I caught what she was not wanting to say, "You are talking about infected militants or players. I will have no choice to eradicate them but once done they are eradicated for good."

"Unfortunately yes, Jack. However the Oracle that predicted these events said that infected militants will be extremely rare," clarified Nao.

"Wait! All this is some sort of prophecy. It can be up for interpretation?"

The goddess got angry at this, "Unlike in the militant's world, Prophecy here is extremely accurate. From what I know of that world there is hardly any magic left. Prophecy there is merely guesswork outside of Nostradamus. Here Prophecy is serious business."

I decided to change the subject, "I need some time alone to think." I bowed to the Goddess. "Thank you for your time, milady." I turn to Nao. "Will you please return me to Erinn if it is alright with the Goddess?"

The scenery shifted again and I found myself in the exact same spot I was in before hitting the rebirth button. Geez I have to fight unbelievable tough monsters now, the existence of which I am sure must remain a secret. Talk about pressure. I said I needed time alone but if Danster is on then all the better. I checked and he was.

I touched this name and the IM box popped up. I was at a loose since I still was without a keyboard. I then remembered that some of this stuff is verbal now. I tried to speak a few words but nothing. Then I wondered if I should be touching the box as I said a few word. Well that worked perfectly. We were able to have the following conversation:

Jack: Hi!

Danster: Hi! It looks like you figured out a few things. Congratz! : )

Jack: Yep : ) . I spoke to Nao and the Goddess

Danster: YOU ACTUALLY GOT AN AUDIENCE WITH THE GODDESS! We all see her in cut scenes but to actually have a one on one conversation with her, You got to be pulling my leg.

Jack: I am not, hehe. If you are not doing anything currently, come to my homestead and we can talk.

Danster: Sorry : ( I just stared a daily SW.

Danster telling me this stilled my heart. I sometimes join him on these missions for they are a source of AP as well other goodies. However, there is a huge reason I can't do that so I cut my transmission short with Danster. Big mistake on my part though for when I exited my homestead I was instantly teleported into his Shadow Mission.

I looked angrily at my friend, Danster. "You jerk! You friend teleported me, Didn't you? I still don't know how to fight in my new situation. I bet this is hard mode too. Man you really done it to me this time."

Danster just took a step back, "Sorry about that but you did not answer me so I took that as meaning you would like to join in on the fun. Why don't you exit and wait for me?"

Suddenly Nao appeared in front of Jack. I quickly glanced at Danster and noticed he could not see her. "You can't leave Jack."

I did not like the tone Nao took, "Don't tell me …"

"In this very Shadow Mission a glitched fomor will appear. It is your duty now to take care of it."

My heart did flip flops, "Nao, I am not prepared to do this yet. I still don't know how to fight in my new situation much less take care of something that by all indication would be invincible."

Nao laughed, "Who said it would be invincible? Your spirit weapon will be able to kill it. In fact, only your spirit weapon will be able to kill or cleanse such creatures. As for knowing how to fight you better figure it out quickly." She then disappeared.

Danster noticed my blank expression, an expression he seen before on people who was scared to death. "What is it Jack?"

Somehow, I found the strength to speak, "Nao was just here. She told I can't leave this Shadow Mission. She told me this Shadow Mission difficulty level just went up ten levels."


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

So how does one fight in Mabinogi when they are on the other side of screen from where they normally stand? In other words, how do they fight when it is for real? I have debated this for some time now and I think I have a working theory of how it might work. We will see if you think it is believable of not. Please leave comments as to your thoughts on the subject.

* * *

Danster considered Jack's words carefully, "The difficulty of this shadow mission jumped ten levels … could you please explain how that works."

I explained what the Goddess had told me about certain glitched monsters.

"I guess I'm lucky I teleported you into this mission. You still don't have any idea how to fight?" I shack my head no. Dan exploded, "Look anyone can do a basic attack. Besides, you have the potential of being a one of a kind fighter. You can do things no one else can do in this game. Remember the dagger toss you did earlier. No player can do that here. I bet you there are other things you can do others cannot do."

"How about the moves and skills I should already be capable of doing?" I asked exasperated.

"I bet you can still do those skills too but in a different way than you are used to. Remember this is real to you. I still have to use the command menu from my PC in our world. I bet you can learn to instinctively do those moves. Now as I recall you have two glades you were proud of, ones you took great care to upgrade. Do you still have those? And where is your armor?"

"I searched for my armor when I first arrived and no luck there. It appears I have no armor at all past the gloves, greaves, and helm. I am searching for those glades now. I think I left them on Staton, my first pet."

I hesitated, remembering the glades. Weapons can be upgraded just like we can. Difference is that there is a max to which a weapons can be upgraded. If you do it wrong then there are huge penalties like you can have a very powerful weapon but what good will it do you if it breaks constantly after the first swing. It took me months of dedicated use of these glades to upgraded them them to the max in both durability and power. I referred constantly to Mabinogi wiki to help me upgrade them. This was way before beam swords was introduced in the Black Dragon event of 2012.

Staton appeared after I called him a pang of guilt ran thru me as I remembered breaking our powerful bond by choosing to be a dark knight. Thankfully, the Goddess allowed me to correct that mistake years ago. I just hope our bond can be reformed. I searched his inventory and found the glades Dan had mentioned. I note that I have not used them since I went DK. I felt I had not right to. Can't cry over spilt milk now. I also notice that Staton is looking at me in a very strange way. After transferring the Glades into my own inventory, I recalled Staton.

I looked over at Dan who was calling forth one pet at a time and recalling them a second later. I have seen this done a thousand of times when players are searching their pet's inventory items. I wonder what he is searching for. Usually Dan does not search pet's inventory in front of us unless it is for us pacifically. I quickly found out for what he was searching. He quickly opened the player inventory trade screen and on his side of the trade he put up an exact duplicate of the Spika Silver Plate armor I used to wear.

"Dan … oh my gosh … this looks exactly like …"

"I know," he interrupted, "I was making Spika armor when this color combination popped up. Since it was a dead ringer of the armor you use to wear I stored it in hopes you ever made another male character but you kept on making female characters to play with one after another. It was maddening. Now I am pleased your main is back in action since this armor suits your main much better. Will you please take it already?"

Quicker than a jackrabbit, Jack not only took the offered armor but donned as well. He admits he had felt naked without it. Over the years, he had many variations of outfits but by far this outfit armor was his favorite. Even though it felt different, wearing on this side of game it felt comforting.

I started to laugh though which made Dan wonder, "What are you laughing at?"

"I don't know … hmm … you made these grieves I am wearing, this helm, and now this armor. The only thing I am not wearing that you have not made for me is these Snake Gauntlets. Am I your personal doll you like to dress up?"

Now it was Dan's turn to start laughing, "Ah you finally figured it out. Darn you. Now I have to find another person to dress up … but seriously, all I did was replace the armor you previously had. You bought that armor from someone else a long time ago. As for the grieves and helm, I was honored to do them for you. Unbelievably, I knew all about you during the early years of the game. You always handled yourself with dignity and honor except for that one time in that dungeon but you learned from your mistake and moved on. The kicker is when you recommended our guild to others after your guild disbanded. I was honored when you decided to put forth your own application after soloing it for a year. Those are gifts to a great player and friend. Now I suggest you stow your glades in weapon slot two and grab your shield and spirit weapon."

As I donned my Heater shield with a basic defense of 2, I noticed Dan was looking at me curiously. "What?" I asked.

"You are still using that outdated shield? I thought by now you would have updated by now to a more powerful shield."

"Dan, you know I solo play and not an black smith. There is so much a player of my kind can do or buy from other players. Exactly what do you think I should have upgraded to?"

Suddenly the trade screen popped up again and a shield I never seen before popped in the screen. I scrolled over it and saw it was named Demonic Fear Shield. I noticed the the defense and protection stats and nearly fainted. It had a basic defense of 5 and protection of 3. I could feel my mouth salivating in lust for this shield.

"You can't have this shield jack. It was a pain to make. But I am willing to sell it to you."

Now I was miffed. Dan knows I don't play in high risk dungeons. High risk equals high rewards. It's not uncommon for players to be billionaires in this game. However I was at a impasse on how to pay for this shield I really wanted now more than anything.

Dan noticed my hesitation. I noticed he did not cancel the trade like many others do after they show me things. Evidently he wanted me to have it yet he knew I would not take it without paying for it besides that cannot happen unless both sides agree to the trade. If one side cancels the trade the trade screen goes away. He knew I was honorable because he let me borrow other stuff in the past and I always returned them fully repaired even if he loaned them to me slightly damage. This shield was in perfect condition. "Is this a loan?"

"No and it's not a gift either. I will agree to the trade only if you agree to come whenever I call you. Do you agree?"

I know to which he is referring. Many times I bowed out of high risk quest dungeons. It comes from a time I went in such a dungeon a long time ago only to die quickly and having to rely on the other stronger players for protection. That particular dungeon ceased being fun for me.

However I will say the most fun I had was going in the higher dungeons with the guild officer (second in command) at the time. We moved thru the dungeon with ease and it was very fun. We did not go into the hardest level of that particular dungeon but the intermediate level. I learned lot too. I will never forget that day even though the guild officer ended up betraying the guild when Dan trusted her with the guild temporarily while he moved. The guild broke up and Dan had to rebuild it.

I reluctantly agreed to the trade. I was not looking forward o the high risk dungeons or hard-mode dungeons but a long time ago I silently said to myself I would follow this man to the pits of hell if need be.I quickly donned the shield so next was my spirit weapon.

The spirit weapon he is referring to is a Mace. I am one of very few players that chosen to use a Mace as a spirit weapon. The most common spirit weapon is a claymore for humans, a bow for the elves, and I really have not seen a giant use a spirit weapon. I chose the mace for its uniqueness. Everyone who saw remembers it and remembers me as well.

When I placed the mace from my special inventory into my hand, I literally felt the extra power. I briefly thought about the many new good aspect of the game was the addition of special inventory. It used to be that upgraded armor and clothes had to stay in your normal inventory. There wasn't any special, VIP, or wardrobe inventory slots when the game first started. This led to people soon being unable to play the game due to too much inventory. Now with the extra inventory tabs that is not really a problem anymore. Until I upgrade the armor I will simply wear it or put it in my wardrobe.

Now I realized when I held my mace spirit weapon (which was black, sigh. I need to see if I can change its color) it contained extra power. I quickly called forth the spirit. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you my master."

This spirit was not your typical spirit weapon pixie. I call them pixies for that is what they look like to me but really they are the egos of the spirit weapon, the physical form of the spirit within the weapon. "Who are you and what have you done with my spirit weapon's ego?"

Dan heard that question, "Is there a problem over there?"

"Quickly tell him there is no problem. Keep in mind only you can see and hear me master. I will explain in a second but you need to answer him quickly."

Jack chosen his words carefully, "There is no problem, Dan. I am just conversing with the spirit inside my mace."

Dan did the gesture for laughing, "So you have a normal conversation with your weapon's ego. You are truly becoming an oddity among the players. You should try to keep those oddities a secret as best you can Jack. You don't need the admin breathing down your neck thinking you are a hacker."

Just the mention of the admins thinking I am a hacker sent chills down my spine. There were rumors of them deleting hacker accounts and blocking them from ever coming back on the servers. If they were to do that to me what will happen to me. Somehow, I just don't wish to think about that possibility.

"That will not happen to you, Master. You have more in common with the NPC's than you realize. You are now a part of this world although technically you are still just a militant."

I looked at the fully-grown spirit before me. She reminds me of a genie from the old TV shows from the 70's and the movies from the 60's than the pixies I used to know so well. Her gown was all in deep rich purple and it did not look gaudy at all. It looked rather sensuous.

"Be that as it may, is it possible that you can mute my side of our conversations from all others please, whenever we do speak like this?"

"Done Master. You can speak freely to me without worries of anyone hearing your side of our conversations. Do you wish to know something before we begin the hunt for this glitched fomor?"

"So you know about them and it appears you know about whom I am and what this is about for the other players."

"Yes I do. The goddess replaced the normal spirit your mace used to have with me. She had to explain everything to me before I agree to become a part of this arrangement."

"Who are you exactly?"

"Hmm you don't seem to recognize me. Try looking past the purple outfit to the character underneath."

When she said character, I immediately looked at her with a different perspective. The blonde hair and the eyes, I knew her but it was impossible if I was correct. "No! It can't be true."

She knew I now knew who she was. "It is Jack. It's me Junipers, the first female character you ever created."

"But how is this possible. You were a character I played for a long while when I got bored. How can you be autonomous with your own thoughts and feelings?"

Juni came over and sat down next to me. "To be honest, the goddess did not just replace me with your pixie spirit. She merged me with her. She also imbued me with some of her power to compensate for the lack of power the mace had so it can destroy those monsters we have to hunt. You may be interested to know I retained every memory we created together since you created me. Now though is not the time to talk. We are in a Shadow Mission. These missions have timers and we need to find that glitched fomor before the time runs out."

I jumped up and said, "Right! Do you know how I can use the normal fighting skills I learned in this game?"

She blushed, "Yes but I promised the Goddess not to tell you. You must find that out on your own. However, I can tell you not to think about it too much and it will happen naturally." She poofed out.

Great! She knew but won't tell me. What now? I looked at Danster, "You can leave if you want too. Only I need stay."

Dan did the gesture for no. "Alone you might not make it to your target. I will stay. This SM is no problem for me to solo normally. Stick with me and you will make it to your target. However, I will not engage your target. From what you tell me, you are the only one that can destroy it. You had better switch weapons so your spirit does not get too hungry. Just use her when you have to."

With that we start our search.

* * *

A/N

To be honest this chapter was done a very long time ago like I explained earlier and all I was supposed to do was do some mild editing then post it. However, while doing the editing, new ideas for this hit me and when I reread it it sorda works. sorry for the delay. I hope you like it.

Please review/comment.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

So how does one fight in Mabinogi when they are on the other side of screen from where they normally stand? I poised that question in the last chapter's notes. However, as my stories sometimes does, the chapter wrote itself were the question was not answered. Let's see if it gets answered this question.

* * *

I followed Dan into the first room of what I affectionally call the "Spider Shadow Mission." I call it that for the amount spiders you fight in the central hall in these catacombs of Castle Rath.

I switched to my glades. Everyone can do a basic attack. Reason I do not know how to fight is special attacks like smash have to be loaded. Suddenly I am aware I have loaded up smash. 'How in the world? I just thought about smash and it loaded? I thought about it earlier but it did not load. Maybe I have to be in a combat environment first. Have to test this out in the SM.'

And tested I did, I found out very quickly all I have to do is think of the move I wish to make in order to make it happen. However, I have to remember the name of the moves first. Wish there was an easier method. In our world martial artist have trained reflexes that move on instinct so the martial artist does not have to think as much. Maybe I can train those reflexes here since I am in this body and all. Have to try it out later but now have to concentrate.

Dan is amazing. He said he can solo this dungeon at this difficulty and I am inclined to believe him. I wonder how he handles them spiders since they like to attack in huge groups and in waves. Have to wait and see. I am mostly keeping out of Dan's way and handle only those that agro on me. After this is over, I know I have some major training ahead of me.

When we reached the central room where the spiders attack, I learned how Dan handles these waves of spiders. First off he done this so many times he know which direction they are coming from and when so he lays ice mines in between wave. Secondly, he calls his pets that lay waste to fomors upon entrance like his dragons. Then there is his superb ability to fight. It seems Dan mastered all the fighting forms Mabinogi has to offer and uses the best of the best. In short, he makes quick work of each wave and has spare time in between waves to rest.

Suddenly we see it. The reason I could not leave this difficult dungeon. The glitched fomor was a spider but this was no ordinary spider. This spider was the size of a mountain and it had a rather eerie yellowish glow. How the hell am I supposed to take down this thing? Thankfully, one of Dan's ice mines caught it thus giving me time to prepare.

First, I switch to my Mace and shield. I called the spirit up, "That's the beast I am to fight isn't?"

"Yes Master it is. Have you discovered how to use some of your abilities yet?"

"I have, Juni."

"I am not that person anymore," she said sadly.

"To me you will always be Juni." She smiled warmly at Jack. "Now Juni, we have work to do. How do I use you?"

"Just fight with me as you normally would fight. It will be apparent all too quickly how we can defeat this thing. Oh and if you use me in conjunction with you trans form I can extend the time limit of being transed till after the battle and that includes your transed pet as well. However, I can only do this during a fight with a glitched battle. Also the added power you will see during this fight is only with a glitched battle as well."

Transed form? Oh, she means the Paladin transformation. And my transed pet, could she be referring to Staton. Yes, of course she is referring to him. I quickly call him up. He is still looking at me strangely. I never recalled seeing any of my pets doing that when this was still a game to me.

"Quickly Jack! That thing will break out any second," warned Dan who was fighting off the minor spiders. Minor spiders in this situation is laughable considering those thing can kill me rather quickly normally.

I thought about the Paladin Skill and poofed, both Staton and I transformed into Holy Knights. Nice!

"It is a pleasure to be working with you again, Jack. I am pleased you were able to heal our bond," said Staton.

"YOU CAN TALK!" I exclaimed in total shock.

"I always could while transed but you were unable to hear me. Now you can and I sensed something changed about you? Do I sense Junipers on you as well? How can this be when I know you and her was the same person? "

"Well you might say we've been thru some changes. Now she is the spirit of the spirit weapon. As for myself, well let's just say I became more of a militant that the other militants here."

Juni popped up in astral form taking on a form closer to her old avatar self, "Hello Staton. It is a pleasure to see you again. As I explained to Jack, I contain all the memories of the experiences he had playing as Juni. I remember working with you countless times bringing down some rather high-level fomors. It's a pleasure to be working again with you even if it is in this form."

The glitched spider broke out of the ice. "Time for talk is over. I see you can move freely too Staton. We can work on fighting maneuvers later. For now you hit him low and I hit him high!"

Staton cried, "ROGER!"

Dan at that point had finished his job of decimating the last of the group of spiders in the room. That only left the one big glitched spider. He decided to play dead and leave that fight to me. He later described the battle and what he described astounded me. As he told me the events, I remembered each of them and thought nothing of it at the time.

I moved very freely during the battle. He even saw me duck a few blows, which no one was able to do in normal battle, you use a special skill to counter the blows, or you get hit. I was fighting freelancing using special skills to boost my rather unorthodox fighting style. Sure, I still countered his special skill attacks with my own skills but I have the added bonus be able to freely flowing during this fight. He remembers the best part was when I duck a blow and used _windmill_ followed by _assault slash_.

My mace was impressive to. He never had seen a spirit weapon that crackled with that much power. The glitched fomor seemed to its own kind of power shield, which the mace easily smashed thru. Poor Staton was having a very difficult time in the battle, as his attacked was not effective at all in the battle.

"Jack, recall me and call Airohk," requested Staton.

"Why?" I had to ask.

"Because you need a pet stronger than me and besides I am willing to wager he will get a power boost like I am getting from Juni."

"Power Boost?"

"I can boost the power of your pets but only during a glitched fomor battle. Staton's boost was not enough for this particular fomor. The more powerful the pet - the higher the boost. Airohk, being your dragon, would get an incredible boost."

Since I was not making headway in this battle I did as Staton requested. When Airohk popped up, his fire backlash knocked the hell of the glitched spider. It was incredible how more powerful he was. I immediately did an _assault slash_ , which caused the beast shield to burst apart; there was no more shield then.

The creature landed near Dan so Airohk jumped over and grabbed two of the spider's legs and flung it to the other end of the hall where I used _charge_ to knock the heck out of it again. Airohk flew over and said, "Hop on!"

At this point, I was over being surprised that Airohk had suddenly gained the ability to talk to me, of course he could. We flew to a point over Dan and turn back to the creature. Airohk then let out the fiercest fire breath I have ever seen in any kind of media. Airohk then said, "Now Jack."

I understood what he meant for I had _assault slash_ loaded up. I flew thru the air and my mace filled the air with crackling energy. As the attack made contact, the spider erupted into a zillion pieces and its guts splattered everywhere. I hope this messy ending to the battle is not the norm for all the other glitched battles to come.

After we completed the rest of the SM, Dan and I went up to his homestead. I relished it for it was the first time I have been up in his homestead with him there. Yes, I visited it without him a number of times but this is with him as an invited guest. I felt honored.

After we recalled and retold the battle to each other, we rejoiced. "Jack. That was one intense battle. I have never seen anyone fight with such intensity before. I was indeed honored to see it."

"I know what you mean, Dan. I don't think I will be saying 'I don't know how to fight yet' ever again."

We both laugh hysterically at that joke. "No. I don't suppose you will. I now know who to call if the situation ever gets sticky."

I looked at Dan speculatively, "The way you fight and your level? I hate to see the situations you call sticky."

"That glitched monster would be sticky to me."

I built a fire and sat down watching the flames. Surprising it was nighttime and it was dark. I must be the reason for this. With my presence, the flow time at the homestead flowed freely instead of being stuck on daylight hours. Even that depressed me. Dan noticed very quickly, "What got you down buddy?"

"I am just homesick I guess."

"I know what you mean Jack but you are missing the bigger picture."

"What bigger picture, Dan?"

"Remember we talked about this a while back. You are inside the game my friend. You are living the dream for real. How cool is that?"

I had to smile. He was right. It was pretty cool that I was in the game I so loved to play for hours at a time each day. I would get home from a very hectic day at work and turn on Mabinogi and I would forget my day's worries as I cleared a dungeon or two.

Suddenly the warning signal of an impending maintenance was about happen. "I have to log out for maintenance," stated Dan. "Umm how are you going to ride this out safely?"

"The Goddess, Morrighan, said I will be safe on my own homestead. So I guess I better go too. Later Dan!"

Dan evidently signed off. As for me I quickly left his homestead and entered mine own and none too soon for the maintenance just started as I saw the portal to my homestead disappear. I was wondering how that would work. I bet when the portal reappears the maintenance would be over. Yippie! I tried to settle in but there is just nothing to do on my homestead right now besides being bored to tears.

* * *

A/N

I hope you liked the battle sequence as much as I liked writing it. An explanation of what each of the combat skills does can be found in mabinogi wiki or you can simply google them. That and YouTube should be more than enough to get acquainted with them enough to understand this chapter. And no, dragons cannot fly in dungeons normally. They can only do so in specified zones and dungeons are not one of them.

Don't forget to leave me comment, please. Thanks and later!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

Did everyone enjoy reading last chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it? I hope so. I wonder where the story goes from here. So far, he has been on his own except for when he was in the SM with Danster. Well to be honest with you I am a bit of a solo player so my writing about Mabinogi is from that standpoint. Please try to understand I may not do too much group action in my story because of it.

* * *

The maintenance cycle seemed to have taken forever. Nao showed up at the homestead a couple of times which surprised me since I thought she would be reset like the rest of them but she explained when I transferred into the game Morrighan and her became immune to the maintenance process as long they stayed within the safe area. Safe areas for them include my homestead and their inner sanctuary. Soon she explains I might be able to come to their inner sanctum during the maintenance cycles but for now, I need to stay on the homestead until it is over. Nao did confirm that when my portal reappears is when the maintenance is over. How boring?

I did find one thing out though. I sleep in this world as I do in the other world. I spent part of my time on my homestead sleeping. However, I do not really need sleep. It only comes when I am inactive for a period of time like being trapped on my homestead with absolutely nothing to do, he he.

I rejoiced when the portal finally appeared back on my homestead for I have been trapped there for the last 30 days. I calculated that to the world time where I came from and figured the maintenance must have lasted about 10 hours. Sigh, if I was back there I be chopping at the bits by now not having my Mabinogi fix. What am I saying? I was already chopping at the bits being trapped on my homestead for so long.

Just then, Danster PM'd me.

Dan: Hey Jack. I know it's only been a few hours but I wanted to check up on you as soon as possible.

Me: Umm Dan … Just how long has it been for you. You say a few hours but I like to know how many exactly.

Dan: The maintenance was supposed to last only 4 hours but they had to extend it to a total of 10 hours. Why?

Me: Remember when I said time worked differently for me when I am alone?

Dan: OH! Geez : ( How long was it for you?

Me: I have been stuck on my homestead for a total of 30 DAYS with absolutely nothing to do except for the daily visits from Nao to see how I was doing.

Dan: Crap! You must have been bored out of your mind. Wait, Nao visited you daily. I thought she would be cut off like the rest of Erinn.

Me: Apparently, my arrival has changed them as well making their sanctuary immune to the maintenance. Now if they were in Erinn when the maintenance hit then they would be reset with the rest of Mabinogi.

Just then, Nao appeared before me in my homestead. That's right, I been chopping at the bits bored to death on my homestead and I did not leave right away when I was able too, geez.

"Jack, the Goddess Morrighan humbly requests your presence in her inner sanctum. Will you please come with me?"

Me: Dan, I have to call you back. I have to go with Nao for a bit to visit with the Goddess.

Dan: Lucky dog! I can't begin to fathom the despair you must have felt this past month. I still trying to wrap my head around this time difference thing but you had better not keep the Goddess waiting. Bye!

Nao used her powers to teleport us to the same waiting room as before. Morrighan was already there waiting for us. I addressed her with a slight bow, "You wanting to see me."

"Yes Jack. Now that the maintenance is behind us for a bit I think it's time I told you the truth behind the glitched fomor you fought and why there might be more of them in the future."

There is a secret to them they have not shared with me yet? I wonder what it is. I looked at Morrighan expectantly.

"You see we can't just change things in this world without some kind of backlash. We changed things a little to give you a safe haven during the maintenance…"

"and the glitched fomor showed up," I finished. "So I am a direct cause of them. If I want more freedom in this world I can have it as long as I know I have another one of those fights to look forward to?"

"So if I want my homestead stones be replenished in one Erinn day instead of one Earth day then I have to fight another glitched fomor?"

"Yes. I even can tell you ahead of time which fomors you have to have to take care of. For that request, you'll have three glitched hellhounds to fight simultaneously. Do you wish it so?"

"Hmm can Nao tell me these things and teleport me into the appropriate places? Like if I visit her as if to rebirth but to make such request instead?"

"I wish that I can just arrange that to be so but that will cost a fight against a glitched boss spider from normal Alby Dungeon."

I almost laughed when she said that. How tough can that be compared to what I have already been through? "Morrighan, make it so."

The Goddess smiled at me in thanks for making her life a little easier since it is Nao's job to take care of us militants anyways. I just made things right. Morrighan turned to Nao, "It is done Nao. Please take Jack to the appropriate Alby dungeon."

It took a millisecond to teleport into the dungeon. "Ok Jack. This particular dungeon is where the glitched spider boss is located. No other player can access this dungeon so you have to solo it. Considering this dungeons level is should be no problem for you. The rewards for dungeons with glitched bosses are better than normal rewards so do not skip the chest. Please come see me as soon as this is over."

Nao then faded away like she normally does. I contacted Juni, "I had you on my back the entire time so I guess you heard everything."

"Indeed I did Jack and I must tell you I did not even know about the true nature of the glitched creatures. If I had known, I would have told you. I can tell this one is a relatively weak one unlike the one the other day."

"The other day? So to you only a day went by?"

"Well not exactly. When I am not needed or not in use, I go into a state of suspended animation waiting for the next time I am needed. So to me only a day went by but I see it actually been a month for you. Ouch, you must have been bored out of your mind," declared Juni accurately.

"You mentioned this one is relatively weak. Do you think I can use the normal way we usually beat this spider?" I asked.

"Hmm you mean smash it followed by counter attack, defense, and then assault slash. Yep I think that will work here," replied Juni.

"Geez you know me very well. I keep forgetting that in a way we are a part of each other since you are based on one of my old characters. Anyways thanks Juni for the info."

I decided to go with an inexpensive pair of short swords for the rooms preceding the boss room since the most we see in here is meek bats, brown town rats, old mimics, and white spiders.

When I got to the boss room, I switched to Juni (my mace) and shield. I thought about transing into a Paladin but decided against it. Once inside I noticed the spider did have a very faint glow but nothing compared to the other one. I was only slightly larger than the other one. Sure I could see it was indeed a glitched fomor but it not much of a glitch. I used the exact same attack pattern Juni said earlier and it went down very quickly. Juni hardly crackled when I delivered the deathblow in the assault slash.

When I opened the chest in the chest room, I was very surprised. It had a special jewelry accessory that had a def/pro rating if 2/2 which was unheard of. I also saw 10 complete heals, 10 mana 500, 10 stamina 500, and 10 health 500 potions.

Nao said the rewards would be better but this great. It was unbelievable. I had to pinch myself hard to make sure I was not imagining it. I quickly put the stuff into the inventory of invenpet2. The pet was a dog that had the largest inventory of all the pets hence the name of the pet. I bought them solely for the inventory capability.

I then exited the dungeon and used the Moongate to go to Dunbarton. Once there I went to see Nao. When she appeared, I had a question for her, "Nao. The rewards for the dungeon were fantastic. However, I don't remember any such reward for the Super Spider I defeat in the Spider SM."

Nao smiled, "Have you checked your bank account. The reward was a huge gold reward. It was so huge that it was direct deposited into the bank for you."

I flinched. I completely forgot the bank. I have to check it out since I don't remember what was in this character's bank slot when it was accidentally erased. I keep saying accidentally but something keeps nagging at me in the very back in my mind. It's the fact that the system does not automatically erase toons when it comes time. It asks you if you are sure about it before it deletes the character. I distinctly remember not choosing to delete this character so I keep thinking how in the heck it got deleted in the first place.

"Nao, something keeps bugging me about this characters accidental erasing. Could Morrighan look into the history of it and tell me exactly how it happened."

Nao looked serious for a second, "She already had. Your suspicions are correct. You did not delete the character yourself. When she tried to dig further, she hit a huge roadblock that even she could not overcome. She tells me to overcome it you would have to defeat a glitched white dragon solo in Iria as well as its support dragons."

That stopped me cold. Those things are very difficult for a huge team of players and I have to do it solo. There was no way. Whatever is the secret behind the erasing of this character has to be big.

"Jack, we barely got the character back for you. Whatever is behind it wants to stay hidden and I know is a little angry we got it back for you. You rest assured that whatever secret is behind it will not remain secret for too much longer."

"Nao, any chance I might be able to go back to my own world."

Nao now was saddened. "Jack, as I understand your world, raising the dead is impossible. It's the same for the normal citizens of Erinn. Once they die, there is no resurrecting them.

"Militants are not of this world. They have traveled here through the soul stream. The soul stream changes them enough where they can be resurrected repeatedly. They can also be reborn, as you very well know."

"We speculate, though, if a regular citizen of Erinn were to travel to your world thru the soul stream they would not get the same benefit a militant would get in Erinn. If they return back to Erinn thru the soul stream they still would not get the same benefits."

I digested what Nao had just told me. "You mentioned the people of Erinn can in fact travel the soul stream to my world. I bet their bodies goes with them."

Nao hesitated, "Yes Jack, they get there with their bodies intact. Militants gets new bodies once they get here."

"Can this new body we get here transverse back thru the soul stream to my world intact?" asked Jack looking for a way back to his own world by any means possible.

"Yes it can, sigh. You must earn the right to go back though it appears. Firstly, you must completely do every single G storyline in Mabinogi. Secondly, you must not only get all the skill available to militants but you also must get an R1 rating in every one of them. Thirdly, you must complete every single quest available to your individual race. Fourthly, you must complete all the journals in the game. Lastly, you must get all the titles available to your individual race. If you complete those tasks, only then have you earned the right to go back to your world in the body of your avatar, Jack."

I slumped onto the ground after she listed all those tasks I must do in order to go back to my own world. It was a very daunting list to say the least. It probably will be easier to accept my fate and make a life for myself in Erinn but where do I even begin.

Nao must have sensed my inner quarrel, "Is it so bad here, Jack? I was told a great deal of your personal life back in your own world. You were jobless with practically no skills to speak off. You had no family to speak of and no friends besides you useless online friends. Here you have many skills and the possibilities are endless. Not to mention you are already self-sufficient. Who knows? If you play your cards right maybe the girl you want here might one day return your feelings."

That last sentence seemed odd to me, "What do you mean the girl I want, Mari … er … I mean Nao?"

Nao giggled, "Come now, Jack. I know the real reason you kept sending yourself thru G1 all those times. It was not because you enjoyed the storyline. It was because of me. That is the one storyline I am prevalent in."

I felt myself blushing. "Nao, are you suggesting that …"

"I am saying I feel flattered by the attention and you do intrigue me but this self pity and constantly wishing to go back to the world is just tuning me off big time."

"I have some things to think about then. Oh, I do have a simple request. Can I chose how I cook or prepare my meals from now on, either the game way or the old fashion way I did back on Earth."

Nao giggled, "I was wondering when you get around to that. There is now a glitched Black Dire Wolf near Taillteann you have to get rid of now. Before you go, I have a question. As you may recall you got me a number of outfits thru your other alternates as well this character. I now have access to them. Do you have a preference on which outfit I wear around you?"

I smiled, "I kind of liked the Iria Pioneers Explorer outfit."

She giggled, "That one happens to be my favorite. As you know this black dress is default as the uniform the Goddess supplied to me. The clothes you give me are what I can wear around you. I will be wearing the Explorer outfit from now on when we talk."

I found myself back in Erinn. My talk with Nao apparently ended. I wish those talks would not end so abruptly. Anyways, I began my search for the glitched Black Dire Wolf. Should not be hard to find considering they told me it's near Taillteann and there is only one area there were Black Dires hang.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

In the last chapter, we discovered one reason for the glitched creatures. Is that the only reason though? Maybe there is another reason they are coming thru.

* * *

I was hurrying in my preparations. I had finally convinced Nao to put aside some time in her busy schedule, which is not up to her, so she can visit me on my homestead today. We agreed upon a time for around noon, Lunchtime.

For weeks prior, I was upping my homestead level and was getting some fancy stuff from the homestead creation menu. What I had created was very beautiful. I wanted to show Nao I had a sensitive side by filling my homestead with cherry blossom trees. My homestead was at level 18 now and was huge. I decided to put the house (style 3), a multi-floored building with high ceilings and a loft _,_ on it. I also had a fishing pond to one side. On one another side of the homestead was my herb plants. I have four plants of the different individual plants: Bloody, Mana, Sunlight, Golden, and Base herb plants. My personal belief is that a homestead should be functional as well as a beautiful place to hang out in.

Dan has been to my homestead twice in all his gaming time, both just recently. He helped organize it since his looks spectacular. He claims mine sprouted to huge proportions overnight. The time variance had something to do with it. To him it was overnight but to me it has taken months of hard work. I am really beginning to enjoy the time difference between us. Because of it we worked out a system where he would get me Nexon dollars and I would use the time difference to do things for him whom he would 'claim' was done instantly.

Oh well. It was because of him, I got all these blossom trees, as they were premium items on the menu needing Pons.

When Nao appeared on my homestead, she was wearing the blue summer dress I got for her when I was playing as Junipers. Somehow, that dress seemed appropriate for today. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the explorer outfit better. Today, however, was a special occasion. It felt like Nao and I was on a date of sorts.

"Hi Jack. My, this place has changed. You got a proper house now instead of that disgusting tent. Are these cherry blossom trees? I have never seen one before."

I blushed, "That makes two of us, outside of pictures and the game environment. I could not tell Dan this when we selected them but I can now smell them as well. This world is very much real to me as the old one. The only difference here is I have the company of a beautiful woman from time to time."

Now it was Nao's turn to blush, "Jack, even though I am here I may need to leave periodically just for a minute or so and come right back. It's just to fulfill my duties to the other militants. Thank goodness none are able to rebirth today."

"Oh! I thought the system allows free daily rebirths up to level 3000 nowadays."

"While that is true, on Earth today is the first day of school. Many are busy with those activities as it affects a great deal of people. Even you did not log in for you found yourself busy that week although you thought your work was secluded from those activities. The ones that are logging in are above level 3000 accumulative thus no longer eligible for free rebirth."

I thought for a moment, "So the reason you might have to leave is if one of these players dies unexpectedly and need you to resurrect them."

"That is correct however sometimes I feel like I should not because I can plainly see what will happen when I do. I mean why resurrect them when the fomors will kill them right away anyways," she stated with a sad face.

"Nao, that is for us to deal with. You have done your part in resurrecting us when we ask and you may not know if we might have a plan on how to deal with the fomor after you resurrect us. I know from my experience I don't ever ask you for resurrection unless I can dispatch the fomor you leave."

Nao did something very out of character then, she giggled, "I have a small confession to make. I know you do and I know you always do it to put on a show for me so I hesitate longer than I should whenever I resurrect you. It's just so cute how much of a production you went thru just so I will be impressed even though you know I was just an NPC at that time."

Red faced, I stuttered, "I don't know what you mean."

She giggled again, "Oh come on! Even I know the real reason you find ways of going thru G1 repeatedly. It's because it's the only storyline I am featured prominently in."

I decided to change the subject, "Hmm I am hungry. Do you still eat? I really don't know that much about how much Morrighan changed you."

Nao giggled, "That's understandable, and I still eat but not as much as I used to. I am interested in what foods you can prepare now that you can cook like you did back on Earth."

"Well to be honest with you, I can't exactly cook like I did back home. For starters, everything here is cooked over an open flame. There aren't any electrical appliances. However, I consider that a good thing. To create electricity, you have to do stuff that wrecks havoc with the environment. I like how pristine Erinn is. Anyways, I have everything set up around a campfire over there among the blossom trees."

We took two steps before Nao stopped. "Oh my, not him again. I have to be right back, Jack."

After she left, I decided to put everything away for today. Something about the way she said the last sentence told me it won't 'right back' like she said. She was gone for 2 of my days meaning 40 minutes for the militants time frame.

When she got back, Nao was very despondent. I asked her what was wrong. After some consoling on my part Nao opened up and told me what was wrong. What she told me astounded me.

To put it simply, a perverted player comes on about once a month with a ton of Nao stones in his inventory. The number one thing he does is die repeatedly so that Nao has to revive him repeatedly. What makes matters worse is that he supplied Nao with the skimpiest of her outfits. He does it just to get his perverted jollies off. She finds the entire episode very degrading and I cannot blame her. It is very degrading.

I decided to take her mind off this episode, "I still have everything for our picnic if you are interested in trying what I consider good food."

She chuckled, "This is the one thing that really kept me going thru that trying ordeal."

When we sat down, I produced the two plates of freshly prepared food. I had found out that after I prepare the food I can keep it in my inventory for two weeks and it stays as fresh as I had prepared it just a few minutes ago. I thought that was neat.

She looked at what I put in front of her, "What is this, Jack?"

"It's called a BLT sandwich. I toasted the bread. I think it taste much better on toast. I took me about three weeks of experimenting to learn how to make it properly here in Erinn with the tools I have. Back on Earth, there are things called toasters that makes perfect toast. However, a toaster is an electrical appliance hence not available here in Erinn. You should have seen my earlier attempts at making toast here. Let's just say they became cinders quickly. I would not mind if they put toast on the automatic food list of food I can prepare the Mabinogi way. Then I can use a combination of both methods to get the food I want."

Nao giggled, "Wow you really went into an all out explanation on the breading but failed to tell me what the inner is. I bet it's bacon, lettuce and tomato. Am I correct?"

I smiled, "Yep. Have you never had a sandwich before Nao?"

She looked at me, "You know that Mabinogi is a game based out of Korea back on Earth. Hence, the food is what you may expect in that region. While good, there is certain food not available. What you call a BLT is really an American based food. While the developers try to incorporate other foods from other regions into the game, certain foods are not available like your BLT sandwich. I have been dying to try it."

As she took a bite of food, I thought about what she had just said. If I understand it correctly, this world did not exist before the game developers created it. Since then, however, the game took on a life on its own the developers are not aware of yet or if they are, they have not shared the fact with the other players. I bet it is a closely guarded secret the GM's are keeping hence the tight security of the GM's. I have been curious why they are so many safeguards against hackers in place for this one game more than any other in the world. I bet this is the reason.

"Mmmm, Jack this is delicious," exclaimed Nao.

"Glad you like it. Here you go." I passed her a glass of pink lemonade.

"Thanks," replied Nao.

It was now getting dark, so I proceeded with the last surprise I had for Nao. It's also a surprise for me too. In a recent anniversary event, players got fireworks. Most players just dropped the fireworks on the ground or used them. I had the foresight to save them, for what I do not know but I did. However, I saved them on another character so I was surprised when I found them in my bank slot when I checked it. I surprised since they can only be stored on the particular characters inventory that earned them.

I was glad I had them for this occasion though. We sat down at we watched the firework show I prepared. During the firework show, Nao and I gazed into each other eyes, I lost myself in her beautiful blue eyes. We drew closer to each other until our breathes mixed together. Just before we were to kiss, though, we were or rather I was interrupted by a frantic Danster.

"JACK, you've got to come quickly!"

"I am busy at the moment Dan. Can this wait?"

"No it can't. I have been escorting a new player thru their G1 final when we got face to face with a Glitched Glas!"

* * *

A/N

Needless to say next chapter will be very interesting. One note though, I have never personally defeated Glas myself fore there was so many powerful players that could do it for me. The one in G10 was a nightmare compared to the one in G1 I might add.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

In this chapter, we have a weakness in the detection of glitched fomors and a bad guy shows his face on Jack's homestead.

* * *

"Dan, did you say a Glitched Glas?" I asked while looking right at an alarmed Nao.

"That is exactly what I said. It had already killed all of us here. I told the player in question who was about to log out to rebirth to hang on for I can get reinforcements. The other escort logged out so you can get here. HURRY!"

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Dan. Hang in there." As soon as Dan hung up, I turned to Nao, "Care to tell me why my friend is facing a glitched Glas when I did not make any request lately."

Nao got a tears in her eyes, "But you have Jack but didn't realize it when you made it. Tell me Jack, how many other militants have a date with me? That's right, none. When you asked me to come here, you inadvertently made a huge request. Since I wanted to accept your invitation, Morrighan used her powers to alter reality to make it possible. We searched for the glitched fomor but could not find one."

"But you could not search Tir Na Nog since the Goddess has no real power there. Cichol, however, does. How am I going to get in there to help Dan?"

Just then I felt a very chilling presence behind me. Without turning around, I knew who was there. "Cichol, you have better leave before I rip you apart!"

"Or what! We both know you are no match for me and without my help now that glitched fomor will rip Mabinogi apart."

"Why should I trust you, Cichol? You killed this lady's father right in front of me."

"Jack…"

"That's Mr. Spider to you," I barked.

"Tisk tisk tisk… you really should be more polite to me Mr. Spider. I've killed people for less you know. Anyways I don't care if you trust me or not. However, if we leave that glitched fomor alone it will unravel the very fabric of thread that holds all of Mabinogi together and that is something we both can agree must not happen. Morrighan's power cannot get you into the area where the glitched Glas, only my power can."

I turned to Nao who was clutching herself. She was disgusted by Cichol's presence on the homestead as much as I was. "Nao, what do you think I should do?"

She looked at me and I could see the pain in her eyes, "You have no choice in the matter, Jack. We have to trust him but here me, Cichol. You do anything to harm Jack and I will rain all kinds of hell upon you. You know it was the Goddess' reality altering ability that created the glitched Glas. Imagine what will happen if I asked the Goddess to use that power to help me rid Erinn of you once and for all."

Cichol laughed menacingly, "Oh, I am so scared. You know it might be worth my while it just to see what exactly what you'll do. Nevertheless, you've needed not threaten me, I won't do anything to Jack. He once was a Black Knight and besides there may be more glitched monsters in Tir Na Nog in the future. I too realize Jack is the only one that can take care of them so to harm him is not in my best interest. He will come back safe and sound that is if he overcomes the glitched fomor."

I just thought of something, "Wait! If memory serves me correctly, I won't be able to transform in that area the glitched Glas is in." Both Cichol and Nao nodded their heads. "Well my mace now uses a portion of the Goddess power to take care of Glitched creatures. Will it have the same power in the area the glitched Glas is in?"

Nao looked at me sadly, "No she would not have that power. Not in the G1 final dungeon. In the dungeons before the final one, yes, but not in the final one."

"So how am I supposed to take care of this fomor? I get I am still the only one that can but how?"

Cichol was the one that came up with the solution, "I could imbue it with some of my dark powe…"

He never completed that sentence for Juni made herself known in astral form, "OH HELL NO! Just as Jack rejected the dark power before when he went back being a Paladin, I will reject any form of 'Dark Power'! No and I mean No!"

"Cichol, you heard the lady," I replied while smirking.

"Too Bad," declared Cichol, "All I was really going to do was make it possible for you to use the Goddess power in that dungeon like you normally would, miss. Heck, I can do it right here thus enabling Nao to make sure no ill affect is done afterwards."

"I don't know…" whined Juni, "Nao, is what he says possible? Will you be able to tell if any there are any harmful affects due to his dark power?"

Nao thought for a second, "I cannot say for certain, Juni. I do know though that Jack will have no chance in defeating the glitched Glas as you are right now."

Juni turned towards me, "Jack, I am frightened. I do have some memories of the mace while you were a DK. Did you know it was scared of you then? I just don't wish anything like that to happen to me."

"Juni, this will be your decision. I will tell you this much – if anything happens to you because of this 'Dark Power' then Cichol had better make sure his insurance is paid in full because nothing and I mean nothing will keep me from ripping him apart."

Juni thought for a second, "I know you will Jack for I would do the same. Alright Cichol, I agree to let you imbue with some of your power but you will do it right here and now so Nao can watch and scan me afterwards."

"Fair enough! Jack May I see the Mace please," asked Cichol politely.

I was hesitant until I realized Juni had given her permission. Even then, I was hesitant for Cichol never truly reveal everything to anyone until it's too late. I do not trust him after what happened between me and Staton after I went DK. "Wait! When I went DK, my relationship with Staton changed big time. Will that happen here, Cichol? Will Juni's relationship with anyone change due the addition to your 'Dark Power'?"

"That is a very fair question. I truly regret you did not know the full ramifications of your decision to be a DK before you chosen that path, Jack. I was more than happy to comply with the Goddess wish for me to release you if you so chosen to do so. I never want anyone that is not happy with his or her choice to remain as such. As for your question, nothing like that will happen to Juni. All I am going to do is create a conduit for her to use the Goddess Power as she normally would inside the G1 final dungeon. Nothing more."

So Morrighan had to get Cichol to release me from being a DK first in order to make me a Paladin again. I thought he was merely an agent nothing more. I have to watch more carefully in the future. With trepidation, I got out Juni's Mace. I watched in horror as Cichol unleashed his Dark Magic upon it. When it was over, it felt no different though.

"Juni?" I asked

"I fell different but not in the way I expected. Nao?"

We turned to Nao. She gazed at the Mace for a second, "I see. Morrighan says she did not think of that. Indeed, it is what he said. All he done was to allow Juni access to Morrighan's power in the G1 final dungeon. However, she also says there is an unexpected benefit. Up until now, it was only theoretical that Juni can cleanse the creature of the glitch instead of destroying it. With this upgrade, it will be very possible to cleanse the creature if you so choose. When you do chose that option, Juni will automatically know how to do it and not until then. Now I think you had better go, Jack. That glitched Glas will be and has been gaining strength by the second you delay."

I looked at her expectantly, "Will you be here when I am done?"

Nao looked back at me said, "I have to go do some errands like rebirths, resurrection, and help new players thru the soul stream. However, when I do feel your presence back on this homestead I will come running back. That I promise." Nao did have a look as if she wished to say more to me but held back for some reason. I wonder why.

* * *

A/N

No! I will not go into detail on the Jack's fight with Glas in the next chapter. My reason being I truly never fought Glas before. Others have fought Glas for me while I stayed in the room before the boss room waiting for them to kill him. I understand the first ones were not as lucky to have powerful help but I can't help that. I would dare say that if I could get my main back from the deleted pile I would delete all my other alts, make that one super powerful, and defeat Glas for others to repay those that did it for me in the past. Repay them by paying it forward.

Anyways, next chapter deals more about the love that is growing between Nao and Jack and what consequences it may have for Erinn and for Jack as well.

Please comment/review! See you next time.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

So in the last chapter Nao states that Jack is what – some kind of ghost? Maybe but she also reluctantly is admitting to loving him but knows it cannot be for he will surely have to leave for a higher plain of existence. Now I will switch things back to first person perspective from Jack's point of view again.

* * *

I woke up in what looks like a small clinic with a huge headache and my side hurting like hell. Recently I have been wondering if I am alive or not since my real body on Earth is very much dead. Hurting like this must mean I'm alive, right?

I soon realized where I was by looking out the window. I was inside the Emain clinic. If I were not too amazed by this, I would be freaking out. A regular player could not hope to go inside this building. I struggled to get up which alerted Agnes outside somehow for she rushed inside.

"You should not be getting up for at least another day. I have sent word to Nao about your recovery and she should be here soon."

"Agnes, I need some time alone from her. Is there a way for you to delay her?"

She looked at me funny, "If I could see her I would try but ever since she dropped you off I could not see her anymore."

"Oh. Look, if I promise to stay in bed in my own homestead, will you let me go?" I asked Agnes.

"Only on the condition that you let me on your homestead once a day to check on your progress," replied Agnes.

"NPC's can enter players homesteads?" I wondered aloud.

"Normally no but you are not normal are you Jack? I'll be there after the clinic closes to the normal populace late tonight."

I gathered my stuff and went outside to the normal area militants can access then teleported to my homestead. I then lied down on the ground and called Juni, "Juni, I need to talk to you."

Her astral form soon appeared, "Yes Jack?"

"Answer me this, am I alive or dead?"

"That is debatable and a question I had hoped you never ask me. Your body died on Earth right?"

"As I have been told but I have not been able to confirm that or not. I have thought of asking Dan to check on it for me but been afraid of freaking him out if it turns out I am dead over there. It would mean to him he was talking to some kind of ghost."

"I thought you already told Dan your body in the real world is dead. If so then he knows it to be true. Have you described in complete detail how you supposedly died in the real world. Think about it, such a death would instantly get worldwide recognition. You can just ask Dan if what you said is true and he can confirm it. He is not treating you any differently so his views must be a little more progressive than the normal persons. If you ask me you are alive here so live and stop thinking about death so much."

Juni had a point. I noticed Dan was online. "Thanks Juni. You are dismissed." I punched up Dan on the instant message.

Me: Dan, are there buddy?

Dan: yep I am here. What do you need? Want to do the Daily SM's with me?"

Me: Unfortunately, I can't. Doctor's orders. I must rest until I am fully healed.

Dan: Yeah I heard the crack as Glas hit your side the other night. On a normal militant, such an injury could be easily treated but since this world is now your reality it stands to reason you can get hurt if stuck hard enough. Well what do you need?

Me: I really need to talk to you but not over the instant message board. Can you come to my homestead for a few minutes?

Dan: Sure can. I will be right there before I do the SM's okay.

Me: Thx Bud :)

Dan: NP

A minute later, Dan was standing before me. "Geez, you are hurt worse than I thought."

"Yeah. Agnes had to perform about 10 hours of magical surgery on me yesterday. I just woke about two hours ago and had to fight her to get released to my homestead. Listen, I need to know if you looked at all into what I told you about my death in the real world."

Dan got quiet then reluctantly he started back, "Your real name was Kevin O'Leary. You were 52 yrs old living in Birmingham Alabama in your family's ancestral home at the time. You were unemployed, had already expended all five tiers of your unemployment, and faced having your home taken away from you due to back taxes. How am I doing so far?"

Sadly, I said, "Right on the money. Since I am dead over there you know what that makes me right?"

"A ghost on the web? Yeah I know but you are also alive from what I can tell. Dead people can't hurt like you do or love for that matter. To me, you are my friend Jack. Just because one body is dead does not mean you are any less alive. Does that answer your question?" asked Danster, the leader of the Hellcats guild. "You are just scared to experience the ultimate expression of being alive my friend. You are scared to experience love."

"Love? What are you talking about?"

"Jack, I am not stupid. You face lights up every time she is mentioned by anyone. It always has. You are in love with Nao. Hell it was the silent secret of the Hellcats for a long time. Everyone in the guild knew it. Why do think she kept get mentioned so much whenever you were around. It amused us how much in love with her you actually was."

"I … I … I …" I stuttered not knowing what to say.

Dan chosen to continue, "Now that you are like this and the NPC's are free flowing to you only, Nao is spending more time with you than ever before. I bet she is with you daily even though you really do not need her assistance. Why do think that is? I think you already know the reason why don't you. I need to go now. As long as I am here, Nao cannot come here. You said it yourself that when you are with normal Militants the NPC's go back to being just programmed entities. When you are well enough my friend I like to go riding with on our thoroughbreds. That ought to cheer you up a little since it's been a while since we done that."

Dan left my homestead. Two seconds after he left, I received another visitor. This time from an NPC but it was not Nao nor was it Agnes checking up on me. Morrighan was there.

"What Dan said about how you feel about Nao applies to how she feels about you, Jack. Whenever your name is brought up her face lights up as well. You know I actually did not want her to visit you during the maintenance cycle but she went anyways each day to see how you were doing. She is afraid to admit how she truly feels about you for it will cause a huge glitch in the very fabric of Erinn," declared Morrighan.

"You came to tell me what her love will cost didn't you?"

"You are as sharp as ever Jack. There will two major glitches to care when she finally admits how she feels to herself and you. The first is the most tedious for you take care of - Nao herself will be glitched. To take care of that glitch you will have to cleanse her of the glitch rather than destroy her. After that, she will be free to admit how much she loves you. The second glitch concerns you two being able to be together after that and it happens simultaneously. You know the dragon in G3,Cromm Cruaich?"

I nod my head remembering how during most of the battle I spent it being dead on the ground. My other two companions decided to leave me like that since I was less than useless during that battle. Then it hit me what Morrighan was getting at, "That dragon will be glitched"

Morrighan nodded her head, "Allow me to replay a conversation that took place on this homestead while Agnes was operating on you in Emain." She waved her hand and I say the argument between Nao and Juni. They confirmed what Dan had inferred. I willed myself to Erinn so I can be with Nao.

"Morrighan, is all this just a game still?"

"It's not just a game to the rest of the people of Erinn. It never has. True to the players, the NPC's only have programmed responses to certain stimuli based upon on what section of the overall storyline they are in but that is all. When the militants are not around the NPC's has always had the ability to move freely. You are the only militant that is able to see the NPC's in their normal stances."

"So this world existed before the programmers and engineers designed it?"

"No Jack. This world never existed until that happened but once it did, it took on a life on its own. It was some time after the beta test that life sprouted in the game that the programmers did not create. It happened around the time you first started to playing Mabinogi. I think you always affected the game and did not realize it. I can't explain it. No one can. All we know is when you first arrived in Erinn life took new meaning for the NPC's especially for Nao. It was started slowly until you decided to get membership. Then when you became eligible for G1 which back then was for members only is when life really sprouted in Erinn."

"Morrighan, that really does not make any sense. How can I affect life here when I am not even close to being a programmer or a hacker for that matter," I asked.

"Love rarely makes sense, Jack. Your world's philosophy states it's the most powerful force in the universe. Tell me the truth, when did you first fell in love with Nao?"

"The first time I saw her on my screen. I could not get a grip for days wrapping my head around falling in love with a computer program yet I had. The last time I felt like that was back in High School some 35 years ago." As I stated that, I began to think of my actions in the game.

"Tell me your thoughts Jack."

Damn, did she read my mind? "All my life I kept myself closed off afraid of getting hurt again like I was hurt when my high school love was lost to me. I opened up greatly while playing Mabinogi. I made tons of friends in the beginning by doing so. I became outgoing. Sure I am a solo player but I am not afraid of playing in a group when need be. I joined a guild because I wanted to not because I had to. I wonder if that was because I was secure in my love for a change or if I was willing to take a risk on love for once."

"Who knows Jack? But I think you know what you need to do from here. I need to go. The only time I ever supposed to directly be involved with a player is like being a deity to them and not a friend. This is the last time we will ever talk like this Jack. Take care of yourself and Nao too."

After she left Juni popped out of the mace in astral form, "Jack?"

"Why didn't you tell me of your conversation with Nao?"

"You seen the conversation and Morrighan told you what Nao should have told you. It was not my place to tell you but Nao's responsibility."

Just then, Nao phased in front of me. "Jack, I seen everything before I arrived. I was helping with an RB but I caught everything while the player chosen his new look and job skills. I was hoping to spare you the pain of what was to come. You nearly died in that Glas fight Jack. Had you fought in Erinn then it would not have happened. However, that Glas was in the other world. You are vulnerable there meaning you can be hurt or killed. Here I can resurrect you. Over there you don't have the same protection plus you have the added difficulty of actually being hurt. Did you know you had five very smashed up ribs due to your fight with Glas? What would you think might happen with the fight with Cromm Cruaich, which is in the other world? Not to mention me being glitched, this scares the hell out of me. What if you can't cleanse the glitch out of me? What would you have to do then? Kill me?"

I looked at her sadly. Clearly, she does not fully trust me yet. That may or may not come. For now, I will take things on day at a time. One thing for sure, I been wrapped up in self-pity for far too long. I need to get back to serious gaming and restart enjoying my life in Erinn.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

I hope that in coming chapters we will see Nao trust Jack more so she can accept her feelings so the fun can begin hehe. However, for now just some good old gaming fun. In this chapter Jack is learning how to ride his pets.

* * *

It has been twelve long days being trapped on this forsaken hell called my homestead. Funny I used to like coming here to get away from the crowd but now I prefer it. Dan has visited me whenever possible but being trapped there recuperating was maddening. One thing I missed however was visits from Nao. It seems she is avoiding me ever since telling me she was scared of me not being able to cleanse her from the glitch of when she finally admit to loving me.

Today I finally got the all clear from Agnes that I could finally rejoin the rest of my militants. I had asked her what if I RB'd. She was familiar with the procedure. However, there was one flaw in my plan, I would have to in front of Nao. When I tried it, Nao booted me back to my homestead and told me to stay there until Agnes gave me the okay.

The first thing I did when I got the ok was go to Iria. Now you might think this is strange but I need to go there for one thing. I need to talk to Airohk, my black dragon. I still wished I had taken my time when making him for with a name like that red should have been his color. However, I failed to notice the color selection portion of his creation screen. Oh well, cannot cry over missed opportunities.

When I got to Iria, I ran to a secluded portion of the prairie and called him. When he appeared I spoke to him, "Airohk, I know you can speak to me but you have not uttered a word wince the spider incident. I need your help. Please talk to me."

He gazed down upon me, "What do you need?"

"I still do not know how to ride you here now as I am. Can you teach me?"

"I do not understand. Militants such as you instinctively know how to ride us. Why are you suddenly unknowledgeable on the subject?"

"Have you ever heard of a militant that can hear their pets speaking to them before, Airohk? I have changed a while back and have to relearn some of the most basic skills. Riding my ride-able pets is one of those things. Will you teach me Airohk?"

Airohk looked like he was thinking it over, "I can teach you how to ride a flying pet but for a land based pet you have another talking pet that is better at teaching you how to ride them."

"Oh which one, Airohk."

"Your black unicorn, Blackchaser. Since you hardly ever call him, you may have a difficulty convincing him. Once we are through, I will try to talk to him for you if you like."

I thought better of that, "No, Airohk. That is my responsibility. Now what is the first lesson?"

"The first lesson is in mounting me. Stardestiny told me how you fumbled in mounting him in a very unorthodox way," stated Airohk.

"Well in my old world that is the way we mounted our horses."

"Wait you are actually here aren't you. You aren't looking at this from a computer screen but actually physically here?"

"Yes Airohk, I am actually here physically," I answered sourly.

"Ok! Now everything is making sense. Well first, you need to forget what you may think you know about mounting animals back in the world you came from. It is different here in Erinn." For the next two hours, I did no riding as Airohk explained the different ways of riding from this end of the spectrum. He listed all my flying pets and told me how to mount each one of them for each is different. When we did get to actual flying, I was more than prepared for how to handle flying with him. I will admit it was very different and more fun on this side of the screen. We even started to do aerobatic maneuvers. It was so cool. Then he showed me how he could shoot fireballs and breathe fire while in flight which was also very cool.

I was a disappointed when it was all over. "Thanks Airohk. I wee our time is almost up. Hehe I knew I should have done it when we could have four hours together instead of just the two."

He did disappear on me but I was prepared for that. A short five minutes later, we were back together for another two hour. Now I have to wait a whole day before I could use him again. Oh well that is why I got more than one flying pet.

Next, I called Blackchaser. When he came out, he took one look at me and turned his butt to me. He then started to walk off. Hmm what to do? I got it. If he won't help me ride him there are wild horse here that are very friendly.

I walked over to where I notice they stop to eat some grass and rest before continuing again. Once a pony got there I tried some of the things Airohk taught me on how to mount one of these beast all the while Blackchaser looking at me with interest. I on purposely tried the mounting I knew would fail. When that pony ran off I saw Blackchaser snickering. When another got there I did the same stuff again and then acted frustrated. I looked at Blackchaser who looked as if he wanted to say something but remained quiet, "Yes Blackchaser, you wish to say something."

He turned his head away. Stubborn creature! I then mounted the pony correctly and then rode him away. I knew Blackchaser would have to give chase for he could not stray too far away from his master, me. "Come on pony teach me how to ride."

I knew that would get Blackchaser's goat and it did the trick big time, "That beast could not teach you anything, Jack."

I hoped off it and faced Blackchaser who had to come to a screeching halt, "I know that, but you remained quiet and prideful. At least that creature is friend unlike you who is supposed to be my own mount."

He bowed his head, "Point taken, Jack. I know of your difficulties in riding us all of a sudden and I know why. Let's begin your lessons on riding ground base mounts. By the time our time is up you should be able to ride any of us without too much difficulty … only …"

"Only what, Blackchaser?"

"Would you please call on us ever so often to ride? That is the reason you got us after all. The invenpets understand the only reason you bought them is for their huge inventory slots but the rest of us are not your damn pack mules. Ride us at least once a month is all we ask."

"Point taken as well, Blackchaser. I will from now on, promise," I said somberly to my magnificent black unicorn. I swear I could see him smile.

"Alright I see you got the knack of mounting correctly down so mount me and we will begin your lessons," declared Blackchaser.

True to his word, Blackchaser had me riding like a pro in no time at all. Like Airohk before him, he gave me tips on how to ride each of my different land based rides. I wanted to give him a reward.

"Blackchaser, what is your favorite path for a ride?"

"Well Jack, I have always been partial to the path between Taillteann and Tara."

"But I usually fly that path."

"YOU ASK MY FAVORITE PATH AND I GAVE IT TO, GEEZ."

"Ok, my friend. When our time rolls back tomorrow why don't we do that ride?"

"No, I have a better idea. Call up Goldanner, you chestnut pony, and from Tir Chonaill, thru Dunbarton, thru Gairech, Sen Mag, walk on horseback thru Emain Macha, and then back to Dunbarton. You did that with Goldanner one time and he loved it. Since then you only used that poor pony for his level 8 healing ability and it's just plain wrong. That pony is meant for riding not just healing you. Do that and it will be plenty reward for me."

As he faded away I said, "OK I will. Thanks." Time was up on Blackchaser.

I then continental warped to Dunbarton and walked to the Moongate. I used it to teleport myself to the Alby Moongate in Tir Chonaill. I then called out Goldanner. "I hear you want to go for a ride, boy."

I swear his ears perked up immediately. The first thing I did though was check to see if he was hungry though. Like many, I got in the bad habit of not feeding my game pets. Well that is in the past. I live in Erinn now and my pets here need to be properly cared for, as any in the other world would be. Sure enough, he was starving so a quick stop at the grocery store took care of that problem.

Then we both enjoyed the nice ride Blackchaser had recommended. I still am going to go riding with him tomorrow though. He now deserves a reward for recommending this ride to me.

Since I found out my pets have emotions now I experimented to find out what each liked and disliked. What I found astounded me. Some of my pets dislike helping me fight, they rather spend our time together being normal pets. My sheep really disliked being harvested for wool. It's a good thing I had it for a very long time were it was not worth harvesting anymore. My herb pig is the same way however it realizes there certain herbs it can only provide. I have to offset that with what it enjoys, Listening to the 'Harvest' song. Good thing that is a skill most anyone can now train to do well it they put effort into it.

My Siberian husky loves being transed with me. He also loves to fight with me. We can be seen from time to time hunting bears in Sen Mag. I have found that Sen Mag will start overflowing with bears if one person should start hunting bears there unlike the areas around Dumbarton.

I have a couple of pets that misses my female alts unfortunately. They had told Airohk that if they can spend time with Nao is she ever should visit that it would be enough for them. Apparently, they had inherited my fondness for her as well.

One pet rejects that idea. It's one of my ferrets. I can understand why. When I was going around being Alexia, a female alt with red hair with the punk rock pony tail style, I called that particular pet up all the time as a pet purely. We created a bond that way similar to the bond Jack has with Staton. Now that I cannot ever be Alexia again, that bond is permanently broken. I do not know what to do about it.

There a similar instances with my Juni alt. Luckily, Juni feels the same way so whenever I call any of those pets up Juni always appear in astral form and spend time with them. I am beginning to feel lucky for having Juni as the spirit to my spirit weapon.

I just wish I could do something for Stagquodo, the Ferret that likes being Alexia's pet.

* * *

A/N

As I said before all of the names I have for my pets in this story is the actual names of my pets in Mabinogi. I have also included how I used those pets most of the time. Since my internet connection been down for the past few months I have been having a difficult time remembering the names of my pets. Luckily I have a host of screenshots to aid me before I discovered Mabi's cache memory on my computer have several of the names as well. As for Alexia, that alt is real. However, there is more to her name than just Alexia but that would be saying too much as I want this to be a guessing game as to whom I am in the game but I will say this – I only exist on the Tarlach server. Ok, I said too much.

Please review/comment. Thanks!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

Well in the last chapter, Jack arranged where he could call up his non ride-able pets on his homestead. Let's explore the possibilities of that in this chapter.

* * *

Some time ago, Dan warned me that a very lengthy maintenance was about to happen. Evidently, some of the players noticed the glitched monsters and the engineers are going to address that in this coming maintenance. Of course, I don't see how they could when I am a direct cause of these glitch fomors.

According to my calculations, I have approximately fifteen days my time before the maintenance starts. That is plenty of time to gather the necessary items I need to make sure I can stay busy on my homestead the entire time.

I start by gather seed packages by doing grocery jobs. I also do church jobs to get holy water. Next, I go hunting for foxes to earn money for base potions from the healer. I put all this on Stagquodo.

I then make sure Simballa, my little elephant, has at least three pickaxes in its inventory. I decided to move my sickle and how to Stardestiny since I cannot call him on the homestead. I noticed my guitar was on Stardestiny. I moved it to Maximillion, my minibear, instead.

On the day the maintenance was to begin, I decided to do one last grocery job. I had just enough time to complete. I had just enough time to put the seeds on Stagquodo and recall him before heading up to my homestead. Immediately upon arriving on my homestead, the portal disappeared meaning I was lucky this time. I vowed never to cut it so close again.

I started to settle in for the long haul. If what Danster said was true then this maintenance had the potential to go on for about a month and a half. I called up Simballa to get a pickaxe out. However, I never got that chance for Simballa faded away. I got worried so I used the command menu to look at my pets. What I saw horrified me. My pets were disappearing on me one at a time. Stardestiny, Maximillion, Woolery (lamb), Exclaimation(bald eagle), Blessedherbs (herb pig), invpet5, and Cobalter (Shire horse) were all gone one at a time. Suddenly the rest of them disappeared in one sweep disappeared from my list. I had no pets left on my command menu.

"Who are you and what is this place?" asked a strange male voice from behind me.

I twirled around and saw a strange looking man standing there. It was not a normal character; it was a man about twenty-five years old. "I could ask you the same question," I stated.

Suddenly Nao appeared on my homestead, "JACK! YOU GOT TO COME WITH ME RIGHT NOW," she yelled frantically. I can tell she was beyond scared.

"What is wrong Nao?"

"That man is an Admin. He and his fellow admin have been wiping out your pets before the Goddess stopped them by teleport the rest to a safe haven. He means to do the same to you."

I looked at him and he grinned menacingly. I knew then what Nao just said was the truth. I took a giant leap into her arms as she teleported us away. A second later, we materialized in the Goddess' special chambers. Tarlach was there too with the Morrighan.

"Are we safe here? You told me I was safe on my homestead yet the Admin was able to delete Simballa while I had him out there."

Tarlach and Morrighan gasp when I said that. Nao spoke up, "I am sorry you had to see one of your pets deleted right in front of you, Jack. To answer your question, yes we are safe here. This castle is located in a pocket dimension outside of the game. The admin have no control here. We were able to save some of your pets by teleporting the bulk of your fountain within the courtyard of this castle."

I felt somewhat relieved but not all the way, "May I see them."

"Certainly Jack. Please follow me," requested Nao.

I followed her thru the castle to the inner courtyard. I knew what she meant by 'fountain'. After someone logs into Mabinogi, they see a fountain that all their characters and pets surround. Here you can choose to be before logging into Mabinogi. By teleporting the entire fountain here, they did indeed made it so the admins could not delete any more pets.

We turned the corner and I immediately saw Staton who took a flying leap towards me and knocked me literally down. I laughed, "Ok boy. It's good to see you too." I looked over and saw Airohk and Blackchaser. "You know what is happening, don't you?" I asked the both of them.

"Unfortunately yes, Jack. At first, we had no clue but got scared out of or wits after seeing Stardestiny fade into nothingness when we knew you did not call him. Where is Simballa? Was he not with you?"

"He is also gone, Airohk. He faded right in front of me." Every one of the pets bowed in reverence to what I just said. I turned to Tarlach, "Do you still have access to the other accounts? I know for a fact not all the pets were transferred over to this one."

"Yes I do. We did not transfer all the pets for why have duplicates of the same type of pet," stated Tarlach.

I did not reply to him but turned back to Airohk, "It will be your decision if we bring over anymore pets from those other accounts. You do know what I am talking about."

Airohk and Blackchaser looked at each other before conferring with the others. At one point two other people was accessing Mabinogi with their separate accounts from my computer. I paid for all their pets as gifts to them. I had turned my house into a rooming house at one time. These were college student going to the nearby University Hospital studying to be doctors.

The female with long red hair was fascinated with Mabinogi ever since she moved in so she asked if she could play it. We set her up with a separate account so she could play but since all her money went to living expenses, I helped her out with pets. Everyone that knew her loved her both in game and out. Tragically, she was killed in a traffic accident shortly after joining the Navy. She was on her way to a special school for her job in the Navy when it happened.

When I told the guild what had happened everyone wept. We held a special in game memorial service for her. She was truly a great person and a great friend to everyone who knew her. One of my guild mates was so broken up with her death that she asked if she could look after her inactive account so I gave her the details. Almost immediately, she changed the detail of the account so no one can access it including her after she transferred the dragon on it to her account. I still don't know how she did that.

The other account was to my male roomer. He actually was not interested in Mabinogi but rather in her (my female roomer). He played as a way to connect to her. She gave him hell at every turn. Before she was to report in to the Naval school, she took time off to spend with her family back in her home town. Guess who followed her there? It was good for him for during the time he spent in that town he was hit on by the local hussies. She got so jealous she admitted to loving him. Tragically, he saw the accident happen that killed her. He gave me his account details saying he never wished to play again. I was going to delete the account but realized I paid for all the animals and it seemed such a waste so I deleted his toons and created new ones to play with, Alexia being one of them.

I know both accounts to be inactive so the question is will the remaining pets wish for those animals I know to be on those accounts be transferred by Tarlach, Nao, and the Goddess over onto this account. I am hoping yes.

Airohk stepped back up to me, "Yes Jack. You may bring over pets from those other accounts but on one condition, we get to chose whom."

"Alright Airohk, I agree to those terms. Tarlach, are you able to transfer those pets?" I asked.

"Indeed I can. Airohk, who do you wish first?" asked Tarlach.

Airohk and Tarlach spent an hour transferring pets over. When it was over, I must say I was impressed with the selection. I could not ask for any better. From account J, I got the white shire Cecelion, the minibear Sirmaximus, and the grey hound Raxxon. From account S, I got the black thoroughbred Globster, the other twin white ferret Stagpod, the bald eagle Scotalon, the dog Scrollkeeper, the dogs invenpet1 and invenpet2, and the black cotton ostrich Mercuryrise.

In my possession already (which was saved from being deleted) was the black fire dragon Airohk, my other thoroughbred Destinystar, the chestnut pony Goldanner, the hawk Pattipeck, the pelican Palicore, the black wolf Roudalfo, the grey wolf Bonnapart, the black unicorn Blackchaser, the dogs invpet#'s 1-4, the Alaskan Malamute Starbracer, the Siberian husky Staton, the white cotton ostrich Snowable, the Snow Tiger Battlercat, the Black Flamemare Danielstang, the flying carpet Carpetbagger, the Oak Magic broom Oakdalion, and my two Samoyed dogs Regginald and Reggiebalm. Overall, I think I still have a decent amount of pets and good quality ones too.

But what good is all these pets if they will end up being deleted. I turned back to Nao, "I think it's time we have a serious talk with the Admin that showed up at my homestead. Is there a safe way to talk with them without fear of them deleting anything?"


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

In the last chapter, we discovered the admins had isolated the direct cause of the glitched fomors in Mabinogi had started acting on it by first stating to delete Jack's pets and then tried to attack Jack himself. Fortunately, Nao rescued Jack just in time.

I have decided to suspend that storyline for the time being and tell the tale of how Jack first started playing Mabinogi and yes this will be an autobiography of sorts.

* * *

Nao tried to console me as I took refuge in the goddess' citadel but it felt like I was a prisoner more than a free person. Due to long length of this particular maintenance I had a lot of time to think. I started to go over the events and adventures of when I first started playing Mabinogi.

Back then I tried all avenues to give myself entertainment online. I had no idea about MMorpg. I stumbled upon an advertisement for Mabinogi by accident. Then I kept on seeing the advertisement over and over so I reluctantly agreed to try it.

Even though I was an avid fan of the Final Fantasy series I really had no real idea of what I would be getting myself into. It was the summer of 2008. After installing the game (which took a while) I was astounded while booting it up for the first time. It had one of the most complex character design menus I have ever seen in any game before.

I quickly chosen what I would look like and entered the world. Immediately I was teleported into what looked like a majestic all white realm. When I approached the center a very beautiful maiden appeared dressed in a simple black cleric type dress that hugged her in the right areas. She had beautiful white twin tailed long hair. The most impressive thing about her was her eyes. They radiated the most beautiful color of blue I have ever seen in my life. I could tell she radiated love.

Then she spoke to me, "Wecome Jack. My name is Nao and it is my privilege to escort you thru the soul stream to Erinn. Once there you need to deliver a letter to a person named Duncan. He will start you on your new life in Erinn."

Now you must realize this is before the beginner revamp in 2011 and before the Iria Pioneers expansion. Back then the only race was human. As I remember all this I realize that I am witnessing all this in the third person. I remember meeting Tin up on the hill. He was the one that gave me bread and asked me to go down the hill. He also introduced me to some of the very basics of the game.

Once I came down the hill, I saw the opening sequence of the game. Back in those days, only the G1 storyline was available and only to those with premium membership. The other players that played for free was could go everywhere else.

Duncan gave me what used to be called an Eiry. It was a beginner's spirit weapon that when we reach a certain level goes away after we complete a certain quest. In the meantime, it can guide us in our quest and it will never ever drop or really break. The Eiry was nothing more than a short sword. Many players made the mistake of fighting with it consistently even though higher-level weapons were available.

I remember one quest I could not overcome despite the amount of training I do by only using the Eiry. Finally, I ran all the way Dunbarton to get an upgraded weapon knowing a better weapon was the only way I would be able to overcome my apparent weakness. I ran for horses or any other pets were not available yet.

I thought Mabinogi was centered on Tir Chonaill. You can't really blame me for that for most of us at that time believed the same thing. Tir became the hangout for all us Militants alike. We were so naïve back them. Tir was only the beginning.

I recalled why Staton became so important to me. Way back then I remember when pets was first introduced. Not many of us had any pets because they had to be bought thru the premium shop. However, it became very apparent how useful they are. I finally broke down and purchased two pets, a pairs of dogs. The very first pet I ever called forth was Staton, my Siberian Husky. I did not know those were only offered for a very short time.

I cried the first time when Staton's time was over. He disappeared right in front of me. I begged every owner of a pet what I did wrong, why did Staton was either deleted or erased? I was grateful to learn of the time limits on pets per real day. I was scared to death that I would never see Staton ever again. I decided to call forth Regginald, my Samoyed. This time I was careful about its time limit.

Around that time, I started noticing the Paladins. There was not any Dark Knights yet. I remarked on how powerful they were. One time a group of us was in regular Ciar and had to have help with the Golem who was very powerful for us. On another day, a group of us was in the exact same dungeon. However, we did not know that one of us was a Paladin. We were surprised when he transformed and took out the golem single handedly. I knew I wanted this power too but had no idea of how to get it.

It was about that time my inventory started to get full as well as Staton's and Reginald's. My bank slot was full as well. I had to do something so I started to sell what I was not using. Trouble was the books were not able to trade or npc sell. I did not even know what to do with the fomor scrolls I was collecting.

The world we (the players) were exploring was fantastic. After the beginners revamp in 2011, most everyone knew how to get the skills we now take for granted but back then, no one knew how to get the skills besides trial and error. Talking to each other was crucial to discover new impressive things about the world of Erinn.

Soon guilds stones dotted the landscape. Some guilds did not want to take in newbies so they made a requirement that no one can join as long as you had an Eiry in your inventory. I flat out refused to join those guilds. I think the basis of a guild was to band together to share information more efficiently and to help each other. For that reckoning why not help the newbies be better players. They will be more loyal to you in the end.

Therefore, I created my own guild with these principles in mind. We were small but proud and we helped each other whenever possible. However, I was a better friend than leader. I realized I knew not the first thing about leading. When I had to take a leave of absence from the game, I placed the most powerful of us in the position of Officer so they take care of the guild in my absence. I made two tragic mistakes. My first was the choice for the position of second in command of the guild. They had different ideals that were contrary to my belief for the guild. Secondly, I let my Mabinogi Premium membership lapse during my absence.

When I returned to the game and discovered my errors, it was too late. The guild was no more. All my friends had either deserted me or no longer playing. Even my closest ally, who I should have entrusted the guild to, stopped playing. I did keep his name on my friendship list to the end in hopes he will start back playing but he never did.

From that moment on, I avoided the other players at all cost. I did get stronger though, I kept playing strong but avoided making friendships. I do not know how I made it past G1 that first time although I remember standing in the middle of Tir on the shopping channel until I got help with the final. I was overjoyed that G2 was solo. When I discovered G2 and G3 was mostly solo that motivated to finish up on my G1.

Halfway thru G2, something changed that got me involved with another guild. I was lonely. Therefore, I joined a group that was basically party animals. I had fun for a while and sometimes they did help me. However, I had to take another leave of absence because of work and when I got back that guild was gone as well. I was a solo player once again.

Just before my G2 final, a newbie started to ask me questions. I do not know how but they understood I was a very knowledgeable person of the game. I almost laughed when they stated that for I knew dozens that were more knowledgeable than I was. They asked me which guild they should join. I knew of the Hellcats since the days of my guild. I knew they still existed and where their guild stone was (at that time I have been considering joining them but was hesitant).

She applied and got in instantly and even talked directly with Danster in a PM. She told me Danster extends his thanks to me. I was flabbergasted by how friendly this Danster was. At that particular time, I never met him. I would find out latter although he never met me either, he did know of my old guild and my name thru it. He knew of my original guild it seemed before my first leave of absence.

I was working my way thru math a week later when I made the decision. After the boss room, instead of heading to Manus for healing, I applied to the Hellcats and was accepted in. This time, Danster wanted to meet with me in person so he came to Dunbarton when he could. I, in the meantime, kept myself busy doing odd jobs in Dunby. When Danster got there it was the start of a great friendship, not a close one but a great one just the same. I still kept people at arm's length.

Today I am held up in the citadel of the Goddess Morrighan. She and Nao are working with Tarlach to contact the Admin that tried to delete my very existence. I fear they truly do not understand what they were doing to me. I will try to make them understand I want to pose no threat to their game. However, I cannot help but to feel a little melancholy for I know things will never be the same again. At the same time, I wonder why I have not joined my family who departed before into heaven. What is keeping me here in this game environment?

* * *

A/N

I know this chapter reeks of the stench of a "filler" but the events I just described is my own actual experiences of when I first started playing Mabinogi thru when I joined "Hellcats" (not their real name). Oh and the guild leader did not actually request to see me right off but he did know of my first guild which I was the leader of.

Until next time – Chow!


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

Previously, the Admin finally caught up with Jack. However, Nao saved him just in time. Now he wants to talk with them.

* * *

I waited patiently or rather impatiently for Nao to return with the admin in question. I was worried about her for I feared she would be deleted. It was a very real possibility. Even I know she was the only one that could bring the admin here but contacting him would be dangerous. An hour went by and finally she reappeared with the admin. I could not help myself but to give her a hug which she apparently appreciated.

"I was worried sick, Nao. I feared you were deleted."

"I very nearly was, Jack. Luckily, I mentioned I could take him to you in time. That is the only reason he did not delete me."

"Where am I? What is this place? This is not part of the game," inquired the Admin.

"Greetings to the Citadel of the Goddess Morrighan. I guess this was not part of the game either."

"Well there are concept drawings but yeah nothing that was officially programmed into it. At least that is what the Asian programmers who works on the system tells me."

"That in lies the problem for Jack, Sir," interjected Nao who materialized next to me, "Although Jack had already done this, I welcome you to the Citadel of the Goddess. If you follow me, kind sir, the goddess is waiting for us in the parlor. Come with us as well, Jack."

The Admin was in awe when we entered the parlor. It was just like the pictures that were 'leaked' to the internet. "Interesting I can't do anything about you, Jack, while here. My fellow programmers says deleting you while inside this Citadel is impossible. They cannot explain why but I trust them explicitly. You appear to be Jack Spider yet I have a clear-cut report saying that character been deleted about two years ago. What is even stranger is the player that created that character died six months ago. How all this is possible is a mystery unless…"

"Unless what?" I inquired.

"Unless you are a ghost or spirit of that player and you somehow made your way through the nonexistent soul stream to Erinn. Once there you were given the form of a character you deleted in haste. That is impossible."

"Nothing is impossible. The player that died name is Kevin O'Leary age 52 with sandy blonde hair and a husky body. His social security number is 555-33-54##. He lived in Birmingham Alabama in your family's ancestral home at the time. He was unemployed, had already expended all five tiers of his unemployment, and faced having his home taken away from him due to back taxes. His computer was a home built one made especially for Mabinogi playing. Ask me anything about Kevin's personal information I can tell you including his account log in details for Mabinogi and all of his pin numbers for everything else. Come on ask me."

"True but hackers had hacked their way into the game before. You cannot possibly think I can believe you are actually here. It's more likely that Hackers are controlling that player's avatar from a remote location."

"So you think I am a hacker from a remote location. If that was possible, you be able to track the source of the hack, wouldn't you? What did your trackers tell you?"

The Admin chuckled at Jack's choice or words before continuing. "The programmers whose job was to locate the source of the hack tells us there was no hack in the first place. However, we cannot believe it since it makes no real sense. Avatars do not move on their own and certain there is no ghost in our game either. It's impossible."

"Yet here I am," Jack stated, "Look, I understand your reluctance to believe this is happening so I am prepared to prove it."

The Admin looked directly at Jack, "How can you?"

"Well hackers cannot find everything about me online since I never shared any personal information. I am prepared to sit down and talk about my life history back on Earth till you do believe me."

The admin grinned, "That will not be necessary for I believe you are who you say you are. You did the impossible and crossed over into Mabinogi upon your freak death but for what reason I cannot fathom. Why did you not cross over into the higher plain of existence like the other in your position had done?"

I looked warmly at Nao, "I have unfinished business here. Any possible way we can reach an agreement as for you to let me continue playing until I am ready to cross over?"

I cannot leave just yet, not until I won her heart. Was I setting myself up for failure since she is only a program? I kept wondering that repeatedly.

The Admin knew exactly what I was thinking. "You be interested to know that this Nao is separate from the Nao Program. She became that way when she helped cross you over to Erinn through the soul stream. Since then she has the same powers as the Nao program as well as the back history. Truthfully, I do not think she can be integrated back into the parent program when you do cross over."

"What you are saying she was created just for me?"

"Essentially but of course there may be more to it than that. It's one of those things that we may have to wait and see. In the meantime, I got special permission for you to use a special title but there is a price tag to this title."

"Let me guess, ever so often I must do a special favor for you that may entail me nearly getting killed."

"Well it is to my understanding you have very unique abilities far superior than normal players. The jobs I will be handing you a normal player cannot possibly do."

"Ok I'll do it. Is that all?"

"I'll have to delete your homestead. There are just too many irregularities with it for it to remain."

Tarlach spoke up, "I see. What if we create him a homestead in this dimension and just have a link into the game for him. Will that be OK?"

"I don't know. It sounds good but we have to try it and see. Also your so called glitch hunts must come to an end."

I looked at Nao, "I can't guarantee that. I know of at least one more very huge glitch hunt in the Boal dungeon I must accomplish sooner or later … Morrighan … Tarlach … would it be possible to shift that particular Boal dungeon here into this realm temporarily?" I looked at the admin, "Would that be alright?"

Morrighan spoke first, "It will be difficult to shift that dungeon here since it's located in the other world. If it was a dungeon located in Erinn I could very easily."

The admin spoke up, "We might be able to help with that Morrighan. The engineers however will not guarantee anything though. They want to give your homestead a try first and see if how that goes. Also you have our word not to try to delete anyone until we have too."

"What about the pets you already deleted?"

"Unfortunately they are gone forever. I am sorry. However, if this works then we will give you free pet cards for any pet you so chose past or present. You might be able to recreate the pets we deleted but judging from the looks of what is around that fountain in the courtyard you might not need too," declared the admin while looking out the window to the courtyard below. "I will ask you keep the pets here and we will create a link to them so you can call them from inside the game like you normally would. In addition, you should not tell any other admin about you being dead. They may not believe you. I do for my sister is a parapsychologist. "

"Don't worry, I won't. I had a feeling about you so that is the reason I had Nao fetch only you. Did you really mean it about past or present pets?"

"Yes I did. Is there any in particular you wanted but could not get?"

"Four pets total but since you deleted six pets in total I will also take another Shire Horse as well as another Chestnut Pony. The past pets include a motor scooter, an ice dragon, a thunder dragon, and a black cloud," I stated.

"All those you listed are previous discontinued pets but I can arrange for pet cards for them. In the meantime, let's see about your new homestead. Morrighan, you mentioned you can set one up for him in this pocket universe so it will not interfere with the server."

"Yes I can. Jack, do you wish it to be just like it was or do you wish to rebuild it from the ground up?" asked Morrighan.

"I should ask for it just as it was but what fun is that. No! I think starting out fresh and rebuilding it from the ground up would be great fun," I stated.

"As you wish. However, I cannot access the databank currently for the homestead startup program. Once I can it will be simple to set up the homestead."

The admin listened and pulled out what looked like a cell phone. After talking to someone he said, "Try it now Morrighan."

I went outside to inspect my animals once more when a white own flew over my head and dropped a quest roll into me. It was the 'create a homestead' quest. "A white owl here?"

"Well I was the one that sent you the quest for this dimension so sure – a white owl would deliver the quest. Some things will never change about the game, Jack. Now go on and create the homestead," ordered Morrighan.

I did as she asked and the next thing I knew I was seeing the familiar scene of an agent showing me how to collect a homestead stone. After the scene was over, I got the pickaxe out of my inventory the quest gave me and collected 10 homestead stone. I pitched a basic tent, created a farming slot, and expanded my homestead before planting strawberries.

Nao then brought over the admin in question, "You named it 'Jack's Graceland'?"

I just smiled.

"OK let's see if I can create a link to the game server without causing any problems."

While the admin was busy with the link, Nao spoke to me, "The Goddess says since this space is not connected officially to Mabinogi she was able to make where you can call any of your pets here. You be interested to know this a flyable zone too. You see the open spaces. Eventually, your homestead will fill all this up and it will be the size of a town. Once done, you may not want to leave your homestead at all. But keep in mind to travel to Erinn and back no pets will be allowed out."

The admin had been listening what Nao had said, "She is correct about one thing. The homesteads were meant to transverse this entire region. Instead of seeing barren wasteland all you will see will be your homestead. However, most players do not put that much effort into their own homesteads."

"Why should they when they cannot do a simple thing as to call their own pets on their homesteads? We players use the inventory of our pets to supplement our own inventory lack. How many times do you see players who are doing smith work in Bangor call up different pets ever so often? It is because they store the raw materials they collected on those animals. To limit us just to our own inventory is to make the homesteads that much more unusable," I iterated irritably.

"There is a seriously good reason for that. Players been abusing the pets to let friends teleport them to different places without using the normal methods."

"Then how about forbidding them to leave or enter the homesteads when there is a pet out. It is just that simple. Even a two year old can figure that out," I said with more than a hit of sarcasm. "I am certainly glad this homestead is not on the game servers and in control of the Goddess which is allowing me the use of pets on the homestead. Can I really exit this homestead and into Erinn on the server?"

Suddenly a portal popped up. "I don't know. Why don't you try it and we will see. If it works you should be teleported to Dunbarton on the Tarlach server on channel 4."

I teleported without knowing where I will end up. I did end up in Dunbarton and it was on channel four. Suddenly, I was pm'd. I knew it was the admin.

Admin: Are in Dunbarton?

Me: Yes and on the correct channel but what server?

Admin: Head to Kristell, Another player should be there. Just tell me his name and we will know which server.

Me: Another player? I thought players were not allowed during maintenance.

Admin: sometimes like this maintenance when we have peculiar circumstances we employ other players to help during the maintenance. If this all works out, I just might have you help us out from time to time. Now head to Kristell and tell me the name of the player you find there.

I did as he requested and found Danster there.

"Hi Jack! I can explain."

"You can explain! Why did you not tell me you knew the admin all the time?"

"All the good Guild leaders know them. They approached us soon after we got our guild off the ground and going good. I was told they were going to approach you at one time. However, you disappeared for a time and so did your guild. You tried to revive it but it was no use. The Players that was still active already left your guild and the other players quit playing. They quit playing all because of you. They could not approach someone that was responsible for an entire guild worth of people suddenly quit playing Mabinogi."

Admin: Well do you have a name for me or not?

"Dan, just a moment please."

Me: You know damn well who I found near Kristell.

Admin: No! I only hoped you would find him. Now I know the portal works. Now invite Danster up to your homestead. I need to see if the portal works both ways and would allow other players up onto you homestead.

* * *

A/N

I am going to end things here with the Admin stuff. I do not really wish to go into that aspect of the game for I never truly met an admin in the game to my knowledge. I did have a huge problem once in seeing the giants correctly but another player helped me correct that by telling me to delete a certain file on my computer and let the game system update itself. It would update itself to the right file. After that I saw the giants properly again. I wonder if that player that helped me was an admin – who knows.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

Truthfully, I haven't a clue what is going to be in this chapter. I know how I will end the story but in between is a mystery. As always, I will let the story unfold itself keeping in mind the end game.

* * *

Since the maintenance ended, I have been concentrating on doing the g1 storyline. I am only doing this to get to the dragon in g3. I have something planned for it.

For right now though my priority is how Nao is coping with me redoing g1. She told me I had to but actually doing it is another matter. Nao's father, Mores, is featured prominently in this particular storyline. She told me herself that seeing him repeatedly hurts her in ways I cannot imagine.

For my part, I have been trying to communicate with him. However, that is proving fruitless. In doing this storyline the NPCs are reacting with the normal predictable responses or non-responses, however you choose to look upon it. Even Cichol, who I talked to previously, does not respond to me now. I think it's because I am using the game server to communicate with them instead of the other dimension where my homestead is.

Duncan and the other NPCs no longer talk to me regular which is frustrating. They have been reset and calibrated to my presence. One good thing came out of this is that there is no longer a difference to me between game time and real time. I wonder if I can ask if we can let me go back to the other way though. I was getting the hang of it and it was fun getting my stuff up so much faster than normal.

When I rebirth with Nao, she talks regularly with me. I wonder if she brings me up to a special plateau in the other dimension when I rebirth. I cannot believe that is the same area everyone else RBs in.

Thankfully, the admin did not reset my special controls or my character. They are intact. I think they went out of their way to keep them for me. I found I have a certain amount of credit with the online store too, which is a relief.

The admin was true to his words in that I found I had new pets waiting for me the next time I RB'd with Nao. With her help, I was able to set them up. It was nice to finally get an Ice and Thunder Dragon. I had a very interesting conversation with Nao while setting up the extra horses.

"Jack … I was wondering … why the extra horses? I mean you have plenty enough horses already to be able to ride for a full 24 hours so why the extra horses? Not for inventory slots, certain dogs would have bigger inventory slots."

I looked into Nao's beautiful blue eyes and replied, "They are for you. I want to go riding with you and hoped you could use them along with the others for that."

Nao's cheeks turned red as she replied, "Jack! You know that I can't. As much as I would like to there is no way Morrighan will let me. In addition, you can't call out more than one pet at a time. Also I don't have a physical form in Erinn except on very rare occasions."

"Did I say in Erinn? I was talking about my homestead when I get it big enough."

"Jack, you understand you can only call one pet at a time don't you?"

"Hmm, couldn't the Goddess fix it where you can call my pets as well while on my homestead?"

Suddenly Nao got nervous and worried, "Jack, you do understand such request demands payment right?"

"You mean I must fight another glitched fomor. What will it be this time?"

"You are serious about this aren't you? Remember what that glitched Glas did to you?"

I remembered being bed ridden on my homestead until I healed naturally, which is a change for me. I still wanted this and I can tell Nao did too but was scared about me getting hurt or worse. "Look I understand how you feel but …"

Nao began to cry, "You know the Golems on Ceo Island?"

"I have fought them before. Lost every time though. Why?"

"Well to get what you are suggesting, all the Golems on the Island will be glitched. When that happens, Morrighan will instantly transport the entire Island into the pocket dimension near you homestead. Once there it will become a flyable pet zone. You must solo fight every Golem and clear it before what you asked will be granted."

"The Goddess is not asking for much, is she?" I asked sarcastically.

"The Goddess is not controlling this. She is looking into that," replied Nao back at me.

"Yet she knows which task I must overcome when I make request such as this one."

"She would not be much of a Goddess if she did not know every aspect of life in Erinn would she? Still the one thing that still baffles even her is who is controlling your strings so to speak. For that we are sorry."

Jack stepped up to her and softly said, "There is no need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one to apologize for showing impertinence towards her in these trying times. Still the price this time is making me rethink my request. May I have time to reconsider?"

"Yes you may as you had not put in an official request. Is there a request you wish to make officially?"

"Well I was wondering if it could be set up where I can choose which time I can observe and when. When I'm with the other militants I guess game time should be strictly a standard I can't deviate from but when I am alone I may wish to recognize real Erinn time meaning an hour is an hour."

Nao chuckled a little, "The admin told us you might make this request and he said it was do-able however, he also said he will set it up after you pass our test which is three glitched Hell Hounds located in a special Math dungeon I can teleport you to right away."

Since I was already dressed for battle, all I had to do to prepare was don my Spirit weapon and Shield. After doing so, I quickly glanced at Nao who teleported us in the Math dungeon right at the boss room door, "Wait, you teleported US directly to the boss room?"

"As you know, the Goddess would have to teleport the dungeon up to the pocket dimension. After some discussion with the admin, they decided to only teleport the room in question pertaining the glitched Fomor. Glitched NPC's and Players will be teleported to a special room inside the Citadel. You will call it an arena. There you will fight those type of fights otherwise you have to do it on the fomors home turf."

"OK, I got it. Time for a little less chit-chat and more action. JUNI!"

"Yes, MiLord!"

"I wish to try to cleanse the first of these three glitched Hellhounds. Is that possible?"

"I already told you that it is."

"Good."

I then triggered the door to open. Since I have been stuck here, I triggered multiple boss' rooms, too many for me to count but the first one was normal Abby, the simplest one to beat. I knew by now I could do it. In fact there is little difference in what I could do now verses what I could do back when I could log off.

I soon noticed the hounds very quickly had a reddish tint to them. I gulped hoping they did not have any special new abilities to go with their glitched states. My hopes were dashed when they started to run at incredible speeds. What made their new speed more menacing were the red flames coming from them. On a lark I tossed a pebble so it would hit the flames, it disintegrated instantly. I was glad no other player was trapped inside this dungeon needing rescuing. I was having a tough time as it is keeping myself safe, if I had to worry about another person, I might not make it out and I know in these fights to lose is to be deleted.

"Milord!"

"Jack! Just call me Jack. What is it, Juni?"

"Jack I believe I can withstand those flames with my cleansing magic. We will be killing two birds with one stone. Even if they cannot be cleansed maybe you can land a solid strike on them using me."

I quickly got my Mace out. I noticed it is emitting what appears to be yellow energy at an alarming rate. I deduced it must be the cleansing magic. It took some doing but I managed to score a hit with the mace. The result was sending that particular Hellhound flying into the nearby wall. This action had the affect of halting the other two hounds in their tracks for the first time since the battle began.

I thought I would have an easier time but I was wrong. They started to send out fireballs at me at an alarming rate of speed. It was as if they did not have a cool down time in between spells. What was even worse was these were not ordinary fireballs. They were the red fire type meaning one hit from them and I would be instantly deleted. I hesitated to use my shield in fear of it being deleted. I managed to block a couple of the blasts with Juni the mace but my luck was not going to hold out for long.

"Why are you not using your new shield, Jack?" asked Juni.

"Because it will get deleted if it gets hit."

"Because of the high quality of that particular shield I can imbue it with some of my power that should protect it from the red flames. I would not be able to do so with your old shield, however. Danster must have seen this coming when he gave you that shield."

Danster happens to be one of the best Smiths in the game. He came to my homestead a few weeks back and asked if I still have to battle glitched fomors. When I told him yes, he opened a trade screen. What I saw blew me away. I familiarized myself with all the weapons and armor the game offers. This shield was not on the list however; its states were even better than the previous shield he gave me, the Demonic Fear Shield. This shield has a defense of 8 and protection of 5. It further said it s repair cost would be the same of a basic round shield Ferghus sells.

Dan told me the Admin gave him the plans for it a while back and said it was for me. He further told Danster he was one of the few capable of completing the Shield. It is a one of a kind shield, which did not have a name. The shield was designed with my abilities in mind. I can toss it like a Frisbee and it comes back to me like a boomerang. No other player can toss a shield. A normal player can only throw ninja equipment to my knowledge but it has restrictions, which this shield does not. The materials that are in the shield are not copper nor iron, its mythril, silver, and some unknown metal the admin gave him.

I quickly got the shield out and it worked. I was able to block the Red Flames with the shield. However, I was not making any headway. I was too focused on surviving this battle instead of winning it. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before I get hit.

I knew I had to change the flow of the battle. With this in mind, I flung the shield. I had to take risks to change the flow. Normal attacks just were not doing it. As the shield flew, it created a high pitch whistling sound. Sure enough, it was just what I needed to distract those hellhounds.

I got close enough to the downed Hellhound to use the mace on it. Juni remembered I wanted to try to cleanse it. She emitted a strange yellowish light that went thru the affected hellhound. It worked, the hellhound was cleansed, however, the beast disintegrated before my eyes.

"Juni, report. How did it disintegrate?"

Juni materialized, "Jack these are hellhounds. Part of the cleansing magic of the mace is holy magic. That much holy magic surging within the hellhound had a very negative effect."

"In that case, can you send a cleansing pulse that would affect all creatures in this chamber?"

"Yes and No. Yes is it was possible but no I cannot. While I can do just that, the cleansing spell has a very long cool down time meaning you can only use it once an Erinn day."

I knew I could not rely on the cleansing magic for the rest of the battle. Thankfully, the other two hellhounds decided to be more cautious now. I was able to dispatch them now using normal tactics.

I said the shield comes back to me like a boomerang. Well tossing it was the easy part but catching it was proving hazardous. I usually had to wait until the shield comes to a stop itself. The one time I tried to catch it in combat, I went flying with it right into a dungeon wall hard. Evidently, I need practice with it. Looks like I need to find a secluded place in Iria again, sigh.

When I opened the chest in the treasure room, I nearly fainted from what was inside. It was Royal Knight Armor. I have been wanting this armor ever since it was introduced but to get it I would have to do tons of BORING stuff so I basically told myself it was out of my reach. Royal Knight Armor has a defense of 11 and a protection of 5. That alone makes it extremely desirable but what sets it apart is that it also has upgradable magical defense (3) and protection (2) capabilities. I already have a plan for its upgrades that will not take away from its already high durability (20) but enhances all the stats.

I loved the colors. The breastplate was black but it had glossy and flat surfaces, which made it appear two-tone. The leggings and sleeves were deep dark blue almost like black but when put together the blues shines through. The skirting was off white. In all, I think someone went out of their way to make it look like the spika armor I already wear.

I considered at one time getting the Royal Knight Boots and gauntlets to make it a complete set until I found out that it does not get a complete set stat boost like other sets get. I was happy to hear that since these spika boots were a gift from Danster anyways and the colors match the breastplate perfectly. Truth be told, there was no big deal stat gain by having the Royal Knight gauntlets over the snake gauntlets as well and I prefer the styling of the snake gauntlets better. The colors match the armor as well.

* * *

A/N

I am going to stop things here as I ran out of Ideas. I wanted to upgrade his equipment though as he will be involved in huge fights in the future and will have to be able to defend himself properly. Maybe in the future chapters the 'flow' will be better. Oh, and one more thing, can anyone tell me the inspiration I had behind his new shield? Can someone recommend a good name for it?


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

Disclaimer 

I do not own Mabinogi or any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

Truthfully, I have not a clue what is going to be in this chapter. I know how I will end the story but in between is a mystery. As always, I will let the story unfold itself keeping in mind the end game.

* * *

Since battling the hellhounds, I have been keeping a low profile. Mostly, I have been leveling up tailoring and cooking skills. Eventually, the official game will end so I must become self sufficient as much as I can. I still hunt but not as much as I used to.

My interactions with Nao have been minimal too. She has noticed it and asked me if anything was bothering me. How can I answer her when I do not even know the answer myself? I know something is bothering me gut cannot figure out what yet.

Well that is a lie. I know what is bothering me. Several months back, the number of players accessing Mabinogi dropped significantly. It seemed only I figured it out. They updated the ARC launcher into Mabinogi. Ever since then, the number of players that can access Mabinogi dropped dramatically. The reason is simple. The update demands certain files ONLY available in Windows 7 or above systems. Many players still have XP systems that sadly could not be updated to Windows 7. So in turn, those players cannot access Mabinogi anymore.

I remember the great update from Window 98/2000 to Windows XP. There were a couple of online games back then but not many. Those games quickly went vanished however. I fear the same thing is happening now. Many games will vanish soon with this upgrade. Windows XP was/is a fantastic platform. Because of it, many MMORPGs doted the internet landscape. A new era of games was at hand. Now I am afraid that era is slowly ending only for another era to start. However, I fear Mabinogi may not last long enough to see the new era.

Another reason I fear for Mabinogi's future is the complexity of the game itself. I fear it became so complex it not fun anymore. That happens a lot with MMORPG, as a lot will testify to it. It is not anyone's fault though. The game just got too popular that the programmers had to find new ways to keep the gamers entertained. However, over a period of time, the more and more content you put into a game tend to have the effect of making the game really unenjoyable at times and tedious at other times.

This is not really my real concern, however. It's just a byproduct. My real concern is why am I here? Why have I not joined with the others up in heaven? By faith, I am a Christian truly believing in the Lord coming down to Earth in the form of Jesus. So why have I not gone to heaven yet since I died on Earth?

I was brought out of my contemplation by a PM Skype chat from Danster, "Jack, one of your guild mates needs your help."

"Why have they not contacted me directly about the request themselves?"

"It's because they are on their way to school right now," replied Danster.

"Dan, I don't understand. How can I help someone who is not even online to help?"

"Did I say he is offline? He is AFK, Jack. Got it? It's JoeyScum01."

"Hmmm, if my intel is correct he was doing his G3 final last night."

"Correct Jack. Two of our most powerful members were escorting him. They were so powerful they could fight the fake Cromm all by themselves. However due to power failures in the real world, they were booted from the system just after entering the final boss room."

"Dan, you know as well as I do that the Goddess Morrighan seals the room after that. How am I supposed to get inside there?"

"I can let you inside it," replied a black winged goddess that just appeared behind Jack.

"Why would you do that Morrighan?"

"Because your guild master is asking for your help. This does not go against anything we have said earlier. I would think it is noble for you to help."

When we teleported into the Boal Dungeon Boss room, I immediately saw Cichol. I understood very quickly which part of the battle this was. I looked over and saw the form of the playing dead afk character. I thought this was fantastic because maybe I can end this g3 final battle without me doing any real battle. I know this goes against the original wishes of the player but his wishes now is not to repeat the last three hours of his game play getting to this point.

"Cichol! Can we talk about this or are we doomed to do this battle."

"Jack! If you are here then that means that player over there is afk and will be for the foreseeable future."

"Correct, Cichol."

"Well in that case I will consider this battle over with him being the victor. I am not stupid. With your new abilities you will make mincemeat out of my stone Cromm Cruaich dragon." After saying that, Cichol disappeared and the real Cromm Cruaich appeared to lift the body of Ruari.

"Wait, almighty Cromm Cruaich. It is you I am destined to battle one day here and not Cichol's stone puppet."

The mighty dragon turned, "That is correct, Jack. We will fight but I will be glitched at the time so I must apologize ahead of time."

I was taken surprise by the creature's knowledge of future and current events. However, I deduced I should not be for Cromm Cruaich is one of the most powerful creatures in Erinn. "That is alright, great dragon. I do understand you will not be yourself during the fight."

I turned to leave via a special wing the goddess had placed into my inventory earlier. Since I am not technically part of original G3 team I will not be able to leave the normal way when the G3 ends. I activate the wing and teleport out. The next place I am is my own homestead.

# # Change in perspective: Third person # #

Cromm Cruaich looked over at a particular corner of the boss room. In a normal g3 bout, this is where Nao appears with Tarlach thus reuniting the three lost warriors proving they are friends to eternity. "Won't you tell him who you really are, Milady?"

Nao materialized suddenly from having been invisible recently. She could not bring herself to make herself known to Jack while he was there. "Jack is in love with Nao. If I tell him the truth about me he will surely turn away from me," cried the white hair twin tailed young woman.

Tarlach, who was also there, stepped out of the shadows, "I am not too sure about that. I think Jack might surprise you. Will you at least consider telling him?"

The person known as Nao looked at Tarlach and thru her tears shook her head yes.


End file.
